 The president of Andover’s Board of Trustees and national chair of Campaign Andover received the Claude Moore Fuess Award, Phillips Academy’s highest honor, during the April celebration.
Head of School Barbara Landis Chase made the presentation to Yale graduate David M. Underwood ’54 during a ceremony in Cochran Chapel, which had been renovated and expanded with part of Underwood’s $10 million lead gift to the campaign.
Dating back to 1967, the Fuess Award is named in honor of PA’s 10th headmaster, who served on the faculty from 1908-1948. Reflecting the Andover motto non-sibi––not for self––it recognizes distinguished contributions to public service or to the strengthening of the civic conscience. Previous winners have included Watergate Judge Gerhard Gesell ’28; past U.S. President George Bush ’42; educational visionaries Ted and Nancy Sizer; philanthropists Oscar Tang ’56 and the late Frances Young Tang ’57; artist Frank Stella ’54; and Yale University president and Major League Baseball commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti ’51.
Although the Texas oilman and business executive’s extraordinary record of volunteer service and philanthropic generosity to the academy can be tracked over several decades, Underwood received the illustrious prize not primarily for his role in Andover affairs, but for eleemosynary activities in and around his hometown of Houston.
Besides being a life member of the Kincaid School, which he attended before Andover, Underwood has served 41 years on the city’s Methodist Hospital Board of Trustees, where he is the longest-participating member. Since 1992, he has also been the volunteer president of the Texas Medical Center. That facility, which occupies 720 acres, embraces 42 member institutions, employs 62,000 people and treats 5.4 million patients yearly, is the largest medical facility in the world. Underwood’s family foundation, the Fondren Foundation, supports a wide range of organizations in education and health care, including Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital, the Hospice at Texas Medical Center and the AIDS Foundation of Houston.
In making the presentation, Chase offered some personal reflections on the recipient, noting, “David Underwood has a quick mind, an open heart, and a wonderful Texas-tinged sense of humor. He has the courage to make tough decisions and possesses a truly compassionate spirit.” |
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| The Underwood family takes a break during the weekend festivities. From left: David Underwood '54 and Lynda Underwood, their daughter, Catherine "Trina" Murray, son Duncan Underwood and wife Sarah, and son David Underwood Jr. |
| She also thanked Underwood’s wife, Lynda, and other family members in attendance, and told the hundreds of students and alumni gathered, “I hope you may be inspired by Mr. Underwood’s example to give of your time and resources to causes and institutions you believe in. David Underwood has used his education well. His life is truly a wonderful example of non sibi.” |
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