Gray ’05 wins first Mellinger Award

Ethan Gray ’05, former president and associate principal cellist of the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, is the first recipient of the Rachel Mellinger Memorial Award.

Established by James Schlesinger A.B. ’50, A.M. ’52, Ph.D. ’56, the award recognizes an outstanding undergraduate who has made a significant contribution to the orchestra and has demonstrated leadership abilities and dedication to the highest ideals of the group. The award also recognizes the future potential of the recipient while helping to advance his or her interests and endeavors.

The choice of recipients of the award is made at the discretion of the orchestra or the leader of a successor group in the unlikely event that the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra should cease to exist (the orchestra was founded in 1808).

The award honors Rachel Mellinger Schlesinger, who graduated from Radcliffe in 1952 and played violin in the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra. She later played in the Arlington (Virginia) Symphony Orchestra. In 1954, she married James Schlesinger, who has served as chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, secretary of defense, assistant to the president, and secretary of energy.

– Ken Gewertz