2011 Honoree:
With a background in law and education, Gee served as a judicial fellow for the U.S. Supreme Court and as a professor and dean of law schools. He is co-author of several books, papers, and articles on law and education.
Gee has assumed national leadership in numerous professional and service organizations, including the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation, the Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities, the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities' Energy Advisory Committee, the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation, and the Business-Higher Education Forum. He has worked with several organizations on behalf of families and children, college-readiness, suicide prevention, health care, and hospice care.
Gee was a Mellon Fellow for the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies and a W.K. Kellogg Fellow. He has received a number of honorary degrees and recognitions, including the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Utah and from Teachers College of Columbia University. In 2009, Time magazine named him one of the nation’s top 10 university presidents.
Proceeds from Dinners of Champions have totaled more than $5.4 million and are used to provide programs and services to the 11,000 people with MS and their families in the Ohio Buckeye Chapter. Proceeds also support research efforts to find the cause of and cure for multiple sclerosis.
Past Columbus honorees include:
2011 - Dr. E. Gordon Gee, president of The Ohio State University
2010 - “Jungle Jack” Hanna, Director Emeritus; Columbus Zoo and Aquarium
2009 - Jim Tressel, Head Football Coach; The Ohio State University
2007 - Cheryl Krueger, President, CEO & Founder; Cheryl&Co.
2006 - Carl Kohrt, President & CEO; Battelle
2005 - Fred Sanfilippo MD, CEO; The Ohio State University Medical Center
1998 - Florence Greasamar, Retired; Mount Carmel Health System Foundation