Class of 1966 Locomotive Award

Locomotive Award History

Bill “Roller” Leahy recalls that in early 2017, as the class vice president responsible for participation, he hit upon the idea of a “Locomotive Award” for community service. The award would be presented twice a year, at Alumni Day and Reunions, to recognize classmates for embodying the university’s motto of ”Princeton in the nation’s service and the service of humanity,” with said service being either professional or avocational. At the risk of stating the obvious, the award’s name derives from the venerable Princeton “Locomotive,” a cheer rendered with notable robustness by the Class of 1966 at Reunions and other campus events over the years. To date we’ve presented the award to 14 classmates, whose profiles and accomplishments appear below.
 

 

May 24, 2024. 

The Locomotive Awards Committee, chaired by Steve Harwood, granted the 2024 Reunions Locomotive Award to Jeff Shafer. The award was given in person at Terhune Orchards on May 25, Reunions Saturday.
 
Jeff came to Princeton from Crown Point High School in Indiana. At Princeton he majored in Economics, ate at Elm, and was active at Whig-Clio and a WPRB announcer. He served as an artillery officer with the First Infantry Division in Vietnam and then went on to Master's and Ph.D. degrees in economics from Yale.
 
After stints at the Federal Reserve Bank in New York, the Federal Reserve Board, and the Council of Economic Advisers, Jeff worked at the OECD 1984-93. In 1993 he joined the U.S. Treasury Department as Assistant Secretary and then Under Secretary for International Affairs, involved with both developed and developing countries and with strengthening the IMF and multilateral development banks. He also was responsible for the inter-agency CFIUS process reviewing foreign investment in the U.S.
 
He moved out of public sector government work in 1997, spending 14 years with Citigroup: working with foreign governments, establishing and running their Economic and Political Strategies Group, and ultimately as Vice Chairman of Global Banking with responsibility for Asia Pacific.
 
Jeff "retired" in 2011. Since then he taught at the Princeton School of International and Policy Affairs (he also has taught at Yale, Carnegie-Mellon, and Columbia). He has been a member of the Board of Managers of S&P Global Ratings for 10 years, and is Chairman of the Board of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy. He also has been involved with the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations.
 
Jeff spoke to a crowd of 80, including his daughters Lara '92 and Karen '96. He already had given a Tiger Talk to the class about his career (available on video here), so on this evening he spoke about some of the interesting people he had encountered along the way: his dissertation adviser (also Janet Yellen's) Jim Tobin, Lloyd Bentsen, President Clinton, Bob Rubin, and Larry Summers.
 

Here is Jeff on the left, receiving his award from Jon Holman, who was filling in for John Hart in introducing Jeff.

 

Feb 24, 2024. "Rocky" Barrett received the 2024 ’66 Locomotive Award, presented at the '66 Alumni Day dinner at the Present Day Club (click here for the dinner and more about Alumni Day). To see the video of Tom Tureen's introduction and Rocky's talk, go to the Tiger Talk page (login required).

Feb. 24, 2024

 

Rocky came to Princeton from Shawnee High School in Shawnee, Oklahoma. He was with us just two years, long enough to join Cannon Club, and then moved back to Oklahoma, ultimately graduating from Oklahoma City University and attending the MBA program there.

 

Rocky comes from a family with a long history of leadership in the Citizen Potawatomi Nation in Oklahoma. He became Vice Chairman in 1971 and has been Chairman since 1985, an elected position for which he has been re-elected many times. He was instrumental in the creation and adoption of their constitution and statutes. For his work he was named to the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 2023. He also is President of a drilling company and an Angus cattle ranch and helped save and build a tribally-owned national bank. He has received many national and state awards and lectured at multiple universities.


 

Feb. 24, 2023: Tim Smith received the award at the Present Day Club. Go to recent sighting to view those in attendance.

Video link

 

Bill "Roller" Leahy wrote (February, 2017): "As one Vice-President, focused upon participation, it appeared to me  that we should honor class members for their 'service' with the new Locomotive Award.  Alumni Day and Reunions are the two dates for class gatherings. I have established a small group of '66ers to assist in considering awardees at each of these events. The purpose of the award is to recognize distinguished service and/or character. Service which exemplifies the motto:'Princeton in the nation's Service and the service of humanity.' The award may be either for achievements based upon professional or avocational interests. Class officers will be mindful of both professional and geographical diversity. The committee will now focus upon a classmate to be awarded the Locomotive award at Reunions,2017." The award is to widen participation; in our class ...gathering together more classmates.


The awards and citations are listed below, most recent first. 

 

November 18, 2022. Bill "Roller" Leahy . The dinner event, MC'd by Steve Harwood, was preceded by Tiger Talk, "Aging Gracefully", which Bill presented jointly with Barbara Goltz (click here for the Tiger Talk video).

 

The citation for Bill's award is: "We’re honoring Bill (Roller) Leahy for his outstanding work as Board member and President of Alumni Corp., which promotes non-profits in various ways; his contribution in starting a program to encourage non-college bound high school juniors and seniors to pursue nursing; his contributions as a Class vice president, notably starting the Locomotive Award program; and his professional contributions in the field of neurology." For much more about Bill's extensive contributions, click here for Glenn Goltz's introductory remarks.

 

The photo shows Bill accepting the award from Glenn Goltz. For more photos from the dinner and award ceremony, please see the "Classmate Sightings" page and scroll down to November 18.

 

 

May 21, 2022. Our first awardee for 2022 is Tom Tureen. Tom is known to some of us as the person who won a landmark land claim on behalf of one of the poorest and most forgotten Indian tribes in the country. This in turn led to a landmark decision that helped open tribal gaming, which in turn enabled Tom to help a tiny Indian tribe create Foxwoods, one of the largest casinos in the world. Tom has been instrumental in helping improve the financial lot of the American Indian community. As an aside, the term Native American is falling out of favor; most American Indians prefer to be known as such, as Indigenous, or by their tribal names. 

 

 

As if this weren't a full life of service, Tom is now co-founder and Chairman of Nacero, Inc., a Texas-based company that is developing large scale facilities that will make gasoline from natural gas and renewable natural gas. Gasoline made from natural gas has half the carbon footprint of gasoline made from crude oil.  The use of renewable natural gas from farms and feedlots can take the carbon footprint to zero.             

 

The Award was presented to Tom in person at the class dinner on Saturday night of Reunions, May 21, at Terhune Orchards.  We hope as many as possible can be present to honor Tom. 

 

May, 2021 - Mark Levine. Award Ceremony and Speech, May 27, 2021 (55th Reunion)

Mark is presently serving as senior advisor to the China Energy Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The following information is taken from the May 21 Alumni-Faculty Forum in which Mark participated.

 

"The division he led for 10 years was a world leader in building energy efficiency technology, indoor air quality, advanced battery R&D and energy efficiency analysis. He founded the China Energy Group in 1988, a group still active in collaborations with Chinese counterparts on energy efficiency, clean energy and climate change policy. He led two major analyses of energy efficiency regulatory programs for the U.S. government (building energy performance standards and appliance efficiency standards). He led three major long-term scenario analyses: for the United States, China and the world. He led an overall assessment of energy efficiency and developing countries.  Mark founded or co-founded two nonprofits and a foundation program, all thriving two to three decades after they were established. He has been a board member of eight leading nonprofits: in the United States, China,and Japan, a venture capital firm, and a university program. He was also on the energy advisory board of a large multinational corporation. He has been on the editorial boards of four professional journals. He was a coordinating or convening lead author in two International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Assessment Reports, including the report that won the 2007 the Nobel Peace Prize. He has won five major national and international awards for his work on energy efficiency and climate change and is also the recipient of the Princeton Class of 1966 Locomotive award. In addition to Princeton (graduating summa cum laude), he attended the Free University of Berlin (Fulbright scholar), Harvard University (chemistry graduate school) and UC Berkeley (PhD in chemistry)."

 

Click here or on the photo for the video of the award presentation and Mark's speech focusing on climate change.

 



 

May, 2020 - Bruce Ribner. Award Ceremony and Speech, February 20, 2021

The spring Locomotive Award, normally presented at Reunions, goes to Dr. Bruce S. Ribner, one of the nation's leading epidemiologists. Bruce came to national attention during the Ebola outbreak, and he has been in the spotlight again with the Covid-19 pandemic. Click here for the full award citation which describes Bruce's work and provides additional links, including a link to the 2016 PAW cover article about Bruce  The actual award presentation by Zoom was February 20, 2021. Click here for the recorded Zoom call that also includes memories of classmates who died in 2020, along with Roller's introduction and  Bruce's extremely informative speech.

 

 

Saturday, February 22, 2020 (Alumni Day) - Terry Eakin

Terry received the award during the class dinner at the Present Day Club. Terry has been a national innovator in the construction of urban housing and a tireless advocate for education reform. See the award citation here.

 

Saturday, June 1, 2019 - Joel Primack

Jon Holman delivered the Reunion Locomotive Award to Joel Primack before the class dinner at Terhune Orchards. The award citation recognized Joel's distinguished career in physics and cosmology as well has his efforts to promote science in the public interest and to explain physics and cosmology to the rest of us. You'll also learn why Joel would make a fine Supreme Court justice. For more about Joel's career, collaboration with his wife Nancy Abrams, and daughter Samara '02 (PAW article), please see Ned Groth's 66 Story, Me and Joel, Somewhere Near the Center of the Universe.

 

Joel gave some brief remarks about the importance of Princeton and Princetonians in his life and in the development of physics and cosmology over the last 6 decades. Click here for the slides of the presentation that Joel gave to the '66 San Francisco lunch group September 25, 2019. Joel decided to attend Princeton rather than Caltech after the Caltech admissions director (a Princeton alum) advised him that Princeton was far more suitable for his wide ranging interests. A lusty locomotive cheer followed before we proceeded to cocktails and dinner.

 

For more photos, please see the 53rd Reunion page. For memories of our June 14 graduation and valedictory 53 years ago, here's the New York Times story. Note the comments by J. Robert Oppenheimer regarding Joel's valedictory, which still resonates today (the image is fuzzy but readable if you expand the image).

 

 

 


Saturday, February 23, 2019 - Larry Petrowski

Larry Petrowski (shown below with roommate Brian Baker) received the Class of 1966 Locomotive Award for his work in the forefront of efforts to guarantee healthcare, housing, financial assistance, and hospice care to veterans of the U.S. military services. The award was presented at the Alumni Day Class Dinner in Princeton. For more photos and information, please see the 2019 Alumni Day page.

 



 

Saturday, May 12, 2018 - Lewis MacAdams

Class members and friends gathered at the Kingsley Manor Retirement Community Rooftop in Los Angles (a stone's throw from Route 66) to honor Lewis. On hand:

  • Lewis MacAdams with daughter Natalia and son Torii
  • Lewis' former wives Phoebe MacAdams Ozuna and JoAnne Klabin
  • Various other friends from LA including a HS classmate from Dallas, writer David Ritz (rejected by Princeton!)
  • Barbara and Glenn Goltz, Rich Reinis, Viggo Boserup, Jon Wiener, and Paul Boorstin '65

For much more, including pictures and comments by Glenn, Jon, and Paul Boorstin, click here. The picture below shows Lew with his daughter Natalia.

 

 

 

February 24, 2018 (Alumni Day)

The "'66 Locomotive Award" was graciously accepted  by JIM TIMBIE who was wholeheartedly praised for his internationally acclaimed work in nuclear arms reduction.

June 3, 2017 (51st Reunion)

Bruce Furie and his wife, Barbara, a PhD, have been working in the Boston area for 40 years. They have a world respected laboratory focused upon hemostasis, the division of hematology which looks at "clots"...how and why they form in natural and disease states. Their laboratory and research work has been noted by international hematology academies with multiple honors. Their work evaluates the anatomy, biochemistry and kinetics of clotting.

Both Bruce and Barbara are on the Harvard medical staff, and at Deaconess Medical center where they do research, teach and are involved in patient care. During their careers they have worked with over 100 doctoral or post-doctoral students.

Many pre-med students at Princeton might remember Barbara as a teaching assistant to Dr. Wallis, the feared and respected professor of organic chemistry.

February 25, 2017 (Alumni Day)

Jody Kretzmann was the first classmate selected for this new award, which was presented at prior to our class dinner.

Lanny Jones read the award citation which he authored and also presented the award which included an actual Lionel locomotive circa ?

A few words about Jody Kretzmann and why he is so deserving of the first '66 Locomotive Award.

To put it in a single sentence, in the course of his career Jody has changed the way scholars, policy makers, and activists think about neighborhoods and communities, not only in America but worldwide, especially urban and rural communities which are struggling economically and politically.

With his longtime colleague, John McKnight, Jody founded the Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) Institute at Northwestern University. Since 1980, the ABCD Institute has worked with community leaders around the world to conduct research, produce materials, and otherwise support local residents and their allies to build stronger and healthier communities.

Jody and John McKnight wrote a book called Building Communities from the Inside Out; A Path Toward Discovering and Mobilizing a Communities Assets that has become the indispensable guide for community builders. To date it has sold more than 120,000 copies and been translated into more than 50 languages.

Before defining the asset-based strategies, Jody gained valuable community organizing experience registering voters in the American South and Chicago's West Side. These community organizing efforts led also to a range of electoral political work, including at the local level, with extensive policy contributions to the campaigns and administration of Harold Washington, Chicago's first African American mayor; to the Illinois gubernatorial campaign of Dawn Clark Netsch; to the policy efforts of Barack Obama's campaigns for President (2008, 2012).

Along with his civic, community, and political work, Jody has remained consistently committed to teaching. He founded and led, for some 20 years, a groundbreaking Urban Studies program for the Associated Colleges of the Midwest. Through this program hundreds of undergraduates spent a semester living and working in a Chicago neighborhood, experiencing, as Jody puts it, "the city as teacher".

This program has been widely recognized as one of the earliest and most innovative "experience-based" experiments in higher education. One of Jody's closest colleagues in the Urban Studies Program was John Fish, '55, who went on to found with Jody's assistance, Princeton Project 55, today known as Alumni Corps.

At Northwestern, Jody was twice selected to receive its "Teacher of the Year" award. He is married to (and often works with) Ingrid Christiansen, and together they have two children, Katie and Marcus.

I would be remiss if I did not say, with pride, that he introduced me to my wife, Sarah.

It is a great honor for our class and our classmates to present the First '66 Locomotive Award to Jody Kretzmann


L-R: Jody Kretzmann, T,R. Reid, Jim Merritt, Lanny Jones