Wilson to receive Norton medal at UB commencement

Campus News By SUE WUETCHER

The late Ralph Wilson Jr., founder and 54-year owner of the Buffalo Bills, will be honored with the Chancellor Charles P. Norton Medal, UBs highest award, during the universitys168th general commencement on May 18.

Nancy H. Nielsen, senior associate dean for health policy, UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, and Robert Gioia, president of The John R. Oishei Foundation and chair of the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation, will receive the UB Presidents Medal in recognition of extraordinary service to the university.

Also during the ceremony, SUNY honorary doctorates will be presented to UB alumnus Ira Flatow, host of Public Radio Internationals Science Friday; Jack Lightstone, president and vice chancellor of Brock University in St. Catharines; and UB alumnus Norman McCombs, recipient of the 2013 National Medal of Technology and Innovation.

The Chancellor Charles P. Norton Medal is presented annually in public recognition of a person who has, in Nortons words, performed some great thing which is identified with Buffalo a great civic or political act, a great book, a great work of art, a great scientific achievement or any other thing which, in itself, is truly great and ennobling, and which dignifies the performer and Buffalo in the eyes of the world.

Throughout his distinguished career, Ralph Wilson Jr. had a profound impact regionally and nationally. A founding member of the American Football League, he established the Buffalo Bills franchise in 1959, the only team to remain in its originating city. Recognized by The Buffalo News as the regions top sports figure of the 20th century, Wilson was inducted in 2009 into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the highest honor in the NFL.

A pioneering proponent of youth football nationally, he was a vital supporter of numerous community organizations, including the food banks of Buffalo and Rochester, the United Way of Buffalo and Erie County, Sheas Performing Arts Center, and the Buffalo Zoo. With his wife, Mary, he was a leading supporter of many regional health institutions, including the Hospice Foundation of Western New York, the Cancer Wellness Center, Hunters Hope and the Kaleida Health Foundation.

Through the Ralph Wilson Medical Research Foundation and the Ralph C. Wilson Foundation, he provided significant support to Roswell Park Cancer Institute, the Cleveland Clinic and the Mayo Clinic, and established the Buffalo Bills Team Physicians Fund to support UBs Department of Sports Medicine. Wilson also established major scholarship programs at Canisius College, SUNY Fredonia, St. John Fisher College and the University of Virginia.

A World War II Navy veteran who served in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters, Wilson has been awarded numerous national and regional honors for his philanthropy, patriotism, and civic and sports leadership, including the NFL Alumni Order of the Leather Helmet, the National World War II Museums American Spirit Award and the Sovereign Grand Commanders Medal of Honor by the Masons. Wilson passed away in March at the age of 95.

The UB Presidents Medal, first presented in 1990, recognizes outstanding scholarly or artistic achievements, humanitarian acts, contributions of time or treasure, exemplary leadership or any other major contribution to the development of the University at Buffalo and the quality of life in the UB community.

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Wilson to receive Norton medal at UB commencement

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