The annual Sun & Balance Award Dinner (formerly Committee of 100) is held in conjunction with the Fall meeting of the Rensselaer Newman Foundation Board of Trustees. Attendees include trustees, significant benefactors, emeritus trustees, and past honorees.
The Sun and Balance Award is presented at the dinner and is the highest honor offered by the Rensselaer Newman Foundation to those who support the work of the Church at Rensselaer.
The award takes its name from the seal of the Rensselaer Newman Foundation: the sun represents God and the balance, justice and righteousness. The motto of the Foundation is inscribed around the seal: “God is the Measure of All Things.” Sun and Balance Award recipients receive a medallion-sized reproduction of this seal, a formal declaration of appreciation from the Board President, and have their names permanently inscribed on a plaque in the Main Auditorium.
The Sun and Balance award was originally given intermittently to an outstanding RPI teacher and mentor, as chosen by RPI students. In 1979, the focus of the award was shifted to recognize those who had significantly supported the work of the church at Rensselaer. Since that time, the Sun and Balance Award has been given each year at the Sun & Balance Award Dinner (formerly Committee of 100 Dinner), our annual gathering to recognize those supporters who have made our work possible.
The annual Sun and Balance Award is presented to a recipient who has shown leadership to advance the mission of the Rensselaer Newman Foundation.
A list of individuals so honored follows:
2023: Dee & David Dziewulski
2022: Mary Holbritter
2021: Mary Crangle Nagy
2020: Brett M. Hutton
2019: Jenny and Paul Kraus
2018: Rev. Edward Kacerguis
2017: Sharon E. Valiquette
2016: William Webster
2015: Richard Hartt
2014: James J. Ljunglin
2013: Michael J. McCabe and Frederick E. Gallo, Jr.
2012: Rosanne M. Rose and Lawrence Mitter
2011: Megan Fannon and Nicholas J. Wengrenovich
2010: Michael F. Diacovo
2009: Teresa, James and Christopher Brennan
2008: William Drunsic and Peter Levatich(awarded posthumously)
2007: Frances and James Hyde and Family
2006: Kathleen and Edward Spain
2005: Matthew Kosara, Rebecca Lamb
2004: John A. Malitoris
2003: Nathan Robert Walsh
2002: David Marvin Orlep
2001: Rev. Thomas Phelan
2000: Alice and William McLoughlin
1999: Mairin and Patrick Quinn
1998: Robert C. Thayer
1997: Ruth Ellen and R. Byron Pipes
1996: Richard C. Tantillo
1995: Suzanne F. Gutmann
1994: Anne and Jonathan Cassidy
1993: Frederica Z. Meindl
1992: David S. Haviland
1991: Michael C. Duffy
1990: Carl Engstrom, Arthur Gajarsa
1989: Rev. Gary B. Gelfenbien
1988: Bishop Howard Hubbard
1987: Constance B. Murray 1986: Sarah Catlin
1985: John and Mary K. Ryan
1984: Robert W. Petricca
1983: Paul J. Catan, Jr.
1982: M. Elizabeth and Stephen E. Wiberley
1981: McCarthy Family of Troy
1980: Ellis Robison
1979: Msgr. William M. Slavin, John Millet
1976: Eric Beltz
1972: A. Bruce Carlson
1968: Joseph Smith