Rodman W. Moorhead III ’62 will be awarded the Horace D. Taft Alumni Medal, formerly known as the Citation of Merit, on Alumni Day this year. The medal is the school’s highest alumni honor and is given each year to a person whose life work best exemplifies the school motto: Not to be ministered unto but to minister.
Rod first established himself as a dedicated member of the Taft community when he arrived as a student more than 50 years ago. During his three years at Taft Rod was a monitor, corridor monitor and a member of the class committee. He was also a member of the Glee Club and Church Choir, was Alpha Club president, chairman of the Chapel Committee, a member of the Switchboard Committee and Community Chest Committee. He played varsity football, basketball and track, earning varsity letters in ’59, ’60, ’61, and ’62. Rod continues his service to Taft today as chairman of the school's Board of Trustees.
Rod earned both undergraduate and graduate degrees from Harvard College. MBA in hand, Rod moved to New York, where he spent more than 30 years with the private equity group Warburg Pincus. As head of healthcare investment activities, Rod helped grow the company’s assests under management from approximately $40 million to $15 billion.
A staunch supporter of a broad range of education initiatives, Rod has been a valued and contributing member of many corporate boards. He is currently a director at Proximity Learning, which provides language learning programs for K-12 students, and at the Scientific Learning Corporation, a computer-based special education training company. Rod also sits on the Board of Directors of Imagine Schools, Inc., which operates public charter schools.
Beyond the field of education, Rod serves on the ElderTrustBoard of Trustees. ElderTrust operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT) that invests principally in senior housing and other healthcare facilities, primarily skilled nursing facilities, assisted and independent living facilities, and medical offices and other buildings. He is a member of the Harvard Medical School Board of Fellows, a former member of Harvard’s Board of Overseers, a trustee of the Jackson Hole Land Trust and co-chair of the Board of Directors, Stroud Water Research Center, Inc.
Rod’s dedication to both education and to Taft is in evidence in the academic facility here that bears his name. At the dedication of the Moorhead Learning Wing in 2004 Headmaster Willy Mac Mullen said, “Rod Moorhead is one of the school’s most remarkable, generous and committed graduates. In addition to being a longtime trustee, he has supported the school in every way imaginable, and his unique commitment to student learning has changed this place. Without his intellectual curiosity, this center would never have happened. This is clear: We will meet the school’s mission of educating the whole student even better now.”
Rod was first elected to the school’s board in 1991 as an alumni trustee, and stayed on after the completion of his four-year term, becoming a corporate trustee and eventually the treasurer. He succeeded Will Miller ’74 as board chair in 2006. Rod is a current member of the Admissions Committee, the Committee on School Life, the Development Committee, the Finance and Investment Committee, chair of the Governance Committee, a member of the Audit and Financial Risk Committee and the Campus Planning Committee.
Rod and his wife, Alice, split their time between their homes in Wilson, WY, New York City, and Unionville, PA. In his free time he enjoys fly fishing, fox hunting, golf, traveling, biking in France and Italy, and fishing in South America, Alaska, New Zealand and the U.S. West.
The Horace D. Taft Alumni Medal is the school’s highest alumni honor and is given each year. The recipient’s life and actions must demonstrate something humanitarian apart from a vocation or service. He or she must have gone above the ordinary demands of life or occupation. Success in a chosen field does not necessarily quality a person for the honor. At the same time, it is possible for a person to be eminently successful and go beyond the call of duty to serve others. All honorees, since the award’s creation in 1960, are recognized in a place of honor along Main Hall. The award is a reminder of Taft’s commitment to serve others.
For more information on the Horace D. Taft Medal, and a list of previous recipients, visit www.taftschool.org/alumni/merit.