Negro College Fund Announces Annual Awards

The Late John H. and Eunice Johnson, Johnson Publishing Company, Benny Andrews, JPMorgan Chase and Dr. Donnie Eddins to be honored at UNCF’s 66^th Anniversary Dinner

FAIRFAX, Va. -UNCF–the United Negro College Fund–the nation’s largest and most effective minority education organization, today announced the honorees who will be recognized at its 66^th Anniversary Dinner, which will be held on Thursday, March 4 at 6 p.m. at New York’s Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers.  UNCF’s Lifetime Achievement Award will be given to the Johnson Publishing Company (JPC), publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines, and its founders, the late John and Eunice Johnson; the Johnsons’ daughter, JPC chair and CEO, will accept the award on behalf of her parents. UNCF’s President’s Award will be presented to JPMorgan Chase and the Benny Andrews Foundation.  And UNCF’s Ones to Watch Award will be presented to Dr. Donnie Eddins, a Merck & Co, scientist and graduate of UNCF member institution Talladega College.   UNCF supports more than 55,000 students who attend its 39 member colleges and universities and 10,000 who receive UNCF scholarships, internships and fellowships.

UNCF’s 66th Anniversary Dinner will honor the late John H. and Eunice Johnson who built the Johnson Publishing Company media empire, with UNCF’s Lifetime Achievement Award for their support of UNCF, minority education and historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).  Mr. Johnson was the president and CEO of Johnson Publishing Company and served as a member of the UNCF Board of Directors for more than 30 years. Mrs. Johnson created the Ebony Fashion Fair, an international traveling showcase for high fashion, which raised more than $50 million for charity, including UNCF.  Mrs. Johnson also donated $1 million to UNCF to endow the Eunice Walker Johnson Endowed Scholarship.  JPC chair and CEO, Linda Johnson Rice, their daughter, has served on the UNCF board for five years and will accept the award.

UNCF’s President’s Award will be given to JPMorgan Chase and the Benny Andrews Foundation for their support of UNCF and minority education.  JPMorgan Chase and its employees have been longstanding supporters of UNCF especially in times of crisis, and have contributed more than $15.4 million to UNCF in support of scholarships, An Evening of Stars^® sponsorship, event and program support.

Benny Andrews was a renowned artist whose works hang in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans.  The artist, who died in 2006, bequeathed to UNCF 128 pieces of his art collection to be exhibited by UNCF member colleges and other places where people come together to learn about culture and American life. Nene Humphrey, Andrews’ widow and president of his foundation, will accept the award.

UNCF will also honor Dr. Donnie Eddins, a Merck & Co. scientist and graduate of UNCF member school Talladega College, with the “Ones To Watch Award,” which pays tribute to recent graduates of UNCF member HBCUs whose careers are marked by both great accomplishment and the potential for decades of further service. Dr. Eddins is a three-time recipient of fellowships under the UNCF-Merck Science Initiative, a fifteen-year fellowship/internship program that supports the work of minority bioscience students. 

“Thanks to the support of our honorees for UNCF students and colleges, thousands of young men and women have received the college education they need and that we need them to have,” said Michael L. Lomax, Ph.D., UNCF president and CEO. ”Their work has made it possible for all of us to live up to UNCF’s motto, ‘A mind is a terrible thing to waste.’”^®

The UNCF Annual Dinner has recognized some of the most prominent names in business, politics and society including presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton; former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Mrs. Alma J. Powell; baseball legend Hank Aaron and Mrs. Billye Aaron; philanthropists Bill and Melinda Gates; entertainment couple and philanthropists Denzel and Pauletta Washington; Black Enterprise publisher Earl G. Graves Sr.; education activist Caroline Kennedy,  and actors Samuel L. Jackson and LaTanya Richardson Jackson, graduates of UNCF member institutions, Morehouse College and Spelman College. In addition, UNCF has honored corporate champions including executives of Foot Locker, Inc., AT&T, Merck, Chase Manhattan, Prudential and Black Entertainment Television.

For tickets or additional information regarding UNCF's 66th Anniversary Awards Dinner, please contact the UNCF Benefit Office at (212) 843-1751 or e-mail uncf@hgnyc.com. For more information about UNCF, please visit www.UNCF.org.

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