NEW YORK CITY, June 23--Forty years after receiving his diploma, E. John Rosenwald Jr. '52 is the new chair of the College's Board of Trustees.
In a recent interview at his office in New York City, Rosenwald said, "as Robert Frost once wrote, I took 'the road less traveled' ...and it paid off."
Since graduation from Tuck School of Business Administration in 1953, Rosenwald has only worked for one company, the New York-based Bear Stearns, the eighth largest investment banking firm in the world.
And like his 40 years of dedication to Bear Stearns, he will try to channel his devotion to the College as head of the Board.
An integral dimension of Rosenwald's personality is his generosity. He said it is important to him to give to others.
As a member of the Board of New York University Medical Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and other non-profit and philanthropic associations, Rosenwald gives back to the community what it gives to him -- and then some.
And, he added, he feels proud to give back, not only to the community, but also to his alma maters.
Besides serving on the College's Board, he has also served as a trustee of Deerfield Academy, his high school.
The black wooden chair n his Park Avenue office was given to him after he gave money for an endowed chair at Dartmouth.
There are other chairs that surround the corporate table. They are all more tokens of appreciation from Deerfield Academy, Tuck School and Dartmouth.
Rosenwald appeared comfortable sitting in the chair that faced outdoors, unaware of the noon time bustle outside and the gray bland building across the street whose windows reflected the cloudy sky and smog.
He spoke with a deliberate and calm voice, pausing after questions to think and reflect.
He describes himself as having an "A-type personality." People interviewed at the firm agree.
Bill Montgoris, Bear Stearns' chief financial officer and father of a '96 student, said of Rosenwald, "He'll do an excellent job as chairman of the Board ...and the reason why he'll do such a good job is because he is caring."
Rosenwald's level of caring matches his level of dedication to his work and to the company.
"I tell my grand-children, 'I don't know much, but I can hold a job,'" he said modestly.
Financier
With Rosenwald's financial wizardry, the College's five year capital campaign, set to expire in 1996, reached just over 62 percent of its goal by the end of May. John W. Berry, the great-grandson of the namesake of Baker Library, recently donated $27 million to the fund that will go towards the expansion of the library. It was the largest donation made to the College in its 223-year history.
"The campaign's achievement under John Rosenwald's guidance has been remarkable," said Trustee Richard Page '54, vice chair of the Will To Excel campaign and successor to Rosenwald as chair of the campaign. "He has put us ahead of the overall schedule to realize our goal."
Rosenwald said, with his appointment to the Board, he would dedicate himself to the principal and major gift segment of the campaign as its vice chair when Page replaces him.
Dartmouth on His Mind
Though 257 miles separate the metropolis and the small town of Hanover, N.H., Rosenwald feels extremely close to the College.
In his modest third floor Park Avenue office overlooking 47th Street, pictures line the top row of cabinets -- one picture is of Rosenwald standing on the Green with College President James Freedman.
A board with pictures of him as a young man and some text rests in the window sill of his office. He said the board stood outside of the Rosenwald Auditorium in the newly constructed Byrne Hall down by the Tuck School.
Rosenwald says he is committed to help lead the College into the 21st century.
"It is important that the Board of Trustees does not, to too great an extent, micro manage the institution," he said sitting upright in one of the chairs. "I think that there are certain aspects that the Trustees should let the senior officers take care of."
He said he is currently in the process of committee assignment for the Trustees.
Charting the College's Course
Though Rosenwald said he feels the Board should not concentrate on minute, day-to-day details of running the College, he said he feels he has found the course Dartmouth should sail.
Rosenwald praises the Planning Steering Committee Report, a 100-page document examining the College and containing recommendations for the next decade, that was released in 1990.
"It is the major event for the planning of Dartmouth's future," he said. "Few institutions have the initiative to do that to look at the future. Dartmouth and James Freedman had the guts.
"We should stick to it," he added. "It is the guiding statement of where the College is heading."
The report suggested the College maintain its current size and not expand the student body, improve the quality of the graduate schools and maintain need-blind admissions.
Rosenwald said the best part of Dartmouth are its senior officers who Freedman has appointed in his six years as President. He said the recent upgrading of the College's credit rating to triple-A and the balanced budgets are part of the message that Dartmouth is "well run."
"I am very enthused about the management," he said. "A strong management team is most important."
Rosenwald noted that in Freedman's short period as President of the College he has brought in a new group of senior officers amongst other accomplishments such as new buildings, new curriculum and an improved credit rating. "Those accomplishments represent action by and evidence of the senior management team."
Alumni Curing
Despite the positive direction that he said he feels the College is taking, there are some alumni who are displeased with it. However, Rosenwald says many of those misconceptions come from the people who have not returned to the College recently and who have not seen the positive changes on campus.
"The best way to cure [those misconceptions] are to get people to come back and see with their own eyes what Dartmouth is like rather than through the eyes of the press," he said.
Even 40 years after he left the calm and collected surroundings of Hanover, Rosenwald is still proud of his college.
"A Dartmouth diploma is something to be proud of," he said. "When alumni look back 40 years later, they'll give Dartmouth a great deal of credit for their level of success. I know I have."
