Penn State Names Three Honorary Alumni

5-8-96
University Park, Pa. -- Three outstanding contributors to the University -- G. David Gearhart, Evan G. Pattishall Jr., and P.C. "Hoop" Roche -- will be given Honorary Alumni Awards by the Penn State Alumni Association during the All-Class Luncheon on Saturday, June 1.

G. David Gearhart served as Senior Vice President for Development and University Relations at Penn State from 1985 to 1995. During that time, he was responsible for public relations, alumni relations and fund-raising for the University and the division he headed won an unprecedented three Grand Gold Medals from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

He directed The Campaign for Penn State, a successful six-year effort that raised $352 million for endowment, academic program support, facilities, and equipment. During his tenure, annual giving to Penn State increased threefold and the University's endowment nearly sixfold.

He is now Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Grenzebach Glier & Associates Inc., in Chicago, Ill., a nationally prominent philanthropic management consulting firm with current client fund-raising goals totaling in excess of $6 billion. He and his wife, Jane, have two children and continue to live in Port Matilda, Pa. He remains active on boards of directors for the Centre County United Way, Uni-Marts Inc., and The Second Mile organization for at-risk youth.

He is a former director and vice chair of the Centre County Community Foundation and a past chairman of the Boy Scout Campaign for Central Pennsylvania. While at Penn State, he also was an affiliate assistant professor in the College of Education, teaching a Ph.D. level course in higher education administration.

He is the author of "The Capital Campaign in Higher Education -- A Practical Guide for College and University Advancement," published by the National Association of College and University Business Officers in 1995. He holds an Ed.D. in Higher Education Administration and a J.D. from the University of Arkansas and was a 1992 Fulbright Fellow at the Merton College of Oxford University, in England.

Evan G. Pattishall Jr., professor emeritus of behavioral science and health and human development, served as a physician, professor and first head of the Department of Behavioral Science in Penn State's College of Medicine from 1966 to 1979. He was also interim dean and then dean of the former College of Human Development from 1979 until his retirement in 1987.

Now a resident of St. Petersburg, Fla., he is a member of the Academy of Senior Professionals at the local Eckerd College, where he participates in the Intergenerational Teaching Program and counsels pre-medicine students. He established an endowment for undergraduate research in biobehavioral health for the Penn State in 1995 and endowed the Evan G. and Helen G. Pattishall Outstanding Research Achievement Award in 1987.

He holds degrees in music education and educational psychology from the University of Michigan, which named him a distinguished alumnus in 1992, and an M.D. from Case Western Reserve University. He has served as an expert consultant to institutes within the National Institutes of Health; a past president of the Association for the Behavioral Sciences and Medical Education; and a member of the executive board of the Society of Behavioral Medicine, which he served as president in 1987-88.

A professional player of the French horn since 1936, he has periodically instructed opera workshops. His wife, Helen, and his two sons and two daughters all hold degrees from Penn State.

P.C. "Hoop" Roche Jr., is President and Chief Executive Officer of Erie Plastics, of Corry, Pa., and one of the major supporters of the plastics program and Plastics Technology Center at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. A co-chairman of the Industrial Advisory Board to the center, he has lead several fund raising efforts to create the endowment that made the baccalaureate degree plastics program possible, as well as to expand the center.

He currently serves as chair of the Penn State-Behrend Council of Fellows, the College's advisory board for development and strategic planning, and has been a council member since 1982. He was a delegate to the 1995 White House Conference on Small Business and was named the 1993 Society of Plastics Engineers Man of the Year.

He holds a degree in business administration from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from American University. Currently, he is an advisory board member of the PNC Bank, a member of the Erie Diocese Finance Council, local chapter chairman of the Young President's Organization, and chairman of the Corry Industrial Roundtable, among other activities.

He is a member of the Penn State Mount Nittany Society and a former commissioned officer with the U.S. Coast Guard. He and his wife, Marne, live in Corry and have five children.

Honorary Alumni Awards are granted by the Alumni Association to persons who are not graduates of Penn State "but have made significant contributions toward its welfare, reputation or prestige."

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Contacts:
Alan Janesch
(814) 865-7517 (office)
(814) 867-3621 (home)
axj12@psu.edu

Christy Rambeau
(814) 865-7517 (office)
(814) 237-9046 (home)
cmr7@psu.edu