HAA fetes alums with awards for service

The Harvard Alumni Association (HAA) Awards were established in 1990 to recognize outstanding service to Harvard University through alumni activities. These six recipients were honored Oct. 14 during the HAA board of directors’ fall meeting.

Weston J. “Webb” Durant B.S. ’48, of Orchard Park, N.Y., has a long and important involvement in Harvard affairs, starting with schools committee work in Quincy, Mass., and for many years in Buffalo, N.Y. He served as the HAA regional director for upstate New York from 1996 to 2002. Durant is a former president of the Harvard Club of Buffalo. He founded “The Harvard Affair,” an annual fundraising dance that has raised money for Harvard scholarships for the past 41 years. In 2002, Durant was honored by the Harvard Club of Buffalo as Alumnus of the Year, an award he founded 39 years ago. He is currently an associate with the Brown and Stromecki Agency Inc.

Dan Huntington Fenn Jr. A.B. ’44, A.M. ’72, of Lexington, Mass., has been a class secretary since 1946 and was a former president and former member of the executive committee of the Association of Harvard College Class Secretaries. He was an assistant dean of freshmen from 1946 to 1949, and has served as an assistant editor of the Harvard Business Review and editor of the Business School Bulletin. More recently, Fenn served as a member of the reunion gift committee for his class, and he has been a leader in the effort to raise funds for the Class of ’44 World War Memorial Scholarship Fund, which now totals more than $2.3 million. Fenn was the first director of the John F. Kennedy Library, serving until 1986. He was a member of the faculty at Harvard Business School (HBS) and is currently an adjunct lecturer with the executive programs at the Kennedy School of Government.

Fred N. Fishman A.B. ’46, LL.B. ’48, of New York City, is a distinguished and loyal alumnus of both the College and Law School, devoting substantial hours as a volunteer for Harvard. A past chairman of the Harvard Law School Fund, Fishman is also a past president of the Harvard Law School Association and of the Harvard Law School Association of New York City. He served as an appointed director of the Harvard Alumni Association from 1981 to 1983. He is a nonreunion associates giving chair for the Class of 1946 and a regular member of the class’s gift steering committees during reunion years. Fishman served for 12 years on the overseer’s committee to visit Harvard Law School (HLS) and has served on several other Harvard Overseers’ committees. He currently serves on the dean’s advisory board of HLS and the Harvard School of Public Health Leadership Council. Fishman is a retired partner and former chairman of the executive committee at the law firm of Kaye Scholer LLP in New York City.

Thierry G. Porte A.B. ’79, M.B.A. ’82, of Tokyo, serves as a distinguished and active president of the Harvard Club of Japan and is a member of the Harvard Club of New York and the HBS Club of Japan. He has served on the Harvard Business School’s alumni board of directors (1998-2001) and has aided the University as a fundraiser for the HBS Japan Research Office in Tokyo. He also is a current member of both the HBS Asia Pacific Dean’s Advisory Committee and the Harvard Asia Center Advisory Committee. An active class leader, Porte serves as the co-chairman for his 25th reunion’s major gifts committee. Following a 22-year career with Morgan Stanley in New York, London, and Tokyo, he is now the vice chairman of Shinsei Bank Ltd. in Tokyo.

Jacques Sales LL.M. ’67, of Paris, was the first non-American to be elected president of the Harvard Law School Association (HLSA), in 1998. During his presidency he facilitated an agenda that included outreach to Latin America. He has been an important volunteer for Harvard and was master of ceremonies at an alumni dinner held in honor of Neil and Angelica Rudenstine in Paris – one of the more successful occasions of its kind. Previously, Sales acted as the secretary, vice president, and ultimately president of the HLSA of Europe. In addition, he is a member of the HLSA of France, the Harvard Club of France, and the Harvard Club of New York City. Sales practiced law for 10 years in the Paris office of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen and Hamilton before founding his own firm, Sales Vincent & Associates. In 2000, the firm merged with Denton Wilde Sapte of which he is now a partner.

Jane E. Tewksbury A.B. ’74, of Arlington, Mass., was president of the board of management of the Radcliffe College Alumnae Association (RCAA) from 1997 to 1999, as well as an alumna trustee of Radcliffe College during the complex years of merger discussions with Harvard. She carried out her role with diplomacy, employing both common sense and sensitivity on behalf of Radcliffe alumnae, Radcliffe College, and the wider University. Tewksbury was a founding member of the Radcliffe Mentor Program, which matches Boston-area alumnae with Harvard undergraduates in mentoring relationships. Tewksbury was a recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the RCAA in 2001. She is a former vice president and general counsel of Justice Resource Institute, as well as former legal counsel to the Massachusetts attorney general. She is now the chief of staff in the executive office of public safety in Boston.