Vernon R. Alden

Our current project is to establish the square that commemorates the birth of his majesty of the King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand at Mount Auburn hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on December 5, 1927. For more information click here.

Throughout his professional career, Vernon Alden's interests and activities have included the academic world, business, the arts, and international affairs.

Former Chairman of The Boston Company, President of Ohio University and Associate Dean of the Harvard Business School , Alden is currently Chairman of The Japan Society of Boston and Honorary Consul General for the Kingdom of Thailand in the Now England area. The Emperor of Japan conferred upon him the order of the Rising Sun, Star Class, and the King of Thailand has decorated Alden twice - with the Most Noble Order of the Crown of Thailand and the Most Exalted Order of the White Elephant.

He is in a Trustee Emeritus of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and a Life Trustee of the Boston Museum of Science. For fifteen years Alden was a member of the Board of Fellows of Brown University.

Vernon Alden served for at least twenty years as a director on each of five business corporations; Colgate-Palmolive Company, Digital Equipment Corporation, McGraw-Hill, The Mead Corporation, and the Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Company. He continues to serve as a Director of Sonesta International Hotels and as an independent General Partner of three Merrill Lynch-Lee Acquisition Funds, L.P. and a Trustee of the Tax-Free Funds of Hawaii, Oregon and Rhode Island .

In 1975 the Harvard Business School Association of Boston selected Alden for its Business Statesman Award. The Associated Alumni of Brown University selected him in 1987 for "The Independent Award."

Between 1978 and 1983 he served under two Governors as chairman of the Massachusetts Business Development Council and the Foreign Business Council, both of which were created to assist in the improvement of the business climate in Massachusetts and to encourage location of business in the Commonwealth. Alden led trade missions of Massachusetts business leaders to Japan , China , and Europe .

Upon his retirement from the presidency of Ohio University , the trustees named the new library "The Vernon Roger Alden Library" and conferred upon him "The Founder's Citation," awarded to only two other individuals in Ohio University 's 165-year history.

Alden was appointed in 1964 by President Lyndon Johnson as Chairman of the Task Force Committee planning the United states Job Corps and assisted Sargent Shriver an a part-time basis for six months. Under his leadership, Ohio University spearheaded the economic revitalization of Southeastern Ohio .

He encouraged new programs for highway and airport development, flood control, and regional medical facilities. Alden Served as Chairman of the Education Advisory Committee of the Appalachian Commission.

Vernon Alden was born in Chicago , Illinois , in 1923. He received his Bachelor's degree in 1945 from Brown University , where he did honors work in English literature and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in his Junior year. In 1950 he received the M.B.A. degree from Harvard University . He has been awarded thirteen Honorary Doctor's degrees.

During World War II, Alden served as an officer in the United States Navy aboard patrol ships in the North Pacific and on the aircraft carrier, USS Saratoga. He attended the Navy Language School in Boulder , Colorado , where he was trained as a Japanese interpreter.

As Associate Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration, he taught and directed Advanced management Programs in Japan , Mexico , Puerto Rico , and Hawaii . He helped to establish Japan 's first Graduate School of Business Administration at Keio University and taught for two summers in Japan in the Harvard-Keio Executive Development Program for Japanese business leaders. While at Harvard, he established the Institute for College and University Administrators, financed by-the Carnegie Corporation of Now York. The institute conducted case-study seminars for college presidents, deans, and trustees (a total of over 5,000 academic administrators over a period of ten years).

Mrs. Alden is the former Marion Frances Parson, a native of Chicago and a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University . The Aldens have four children: Robert, Anne, James and David, and four grandchildren. They reside at 37 Warren Street , Brookline , Massachusetts . Mrs. Alden passed away in 1999.

Our current project is to establish the square that commemorates the birth of his majesty of the King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand at Mount Auburn hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on December 5, 1927. For more information click here.