Stephen B. Kay
Stephen Kay accepts his honorary degree.
Stephen Kay, a former senior director at Goldman Sachs in Boston, has played an instrumental role leading and supporting Brandeis University and other institutions in the Greater Boston area.
He served as chairman of Brandeis University’s Board of Trustees from 2000 to 2007, a period of campus development, endowment growth, and heightened competition in student admissions. He also has served on Brandeis’ President’s Council; chaired or served on the trustees’ budget and finance, executive, and investment committees; and helped lead the Campaign for Brandeis Committee.
Kay graduated cum laude from Harvard University in 1956 and received an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1958. He has been involved with his alma mater ever since, serving as vice chair of the university’s Board of Overseers, director of its alumni association and a strong supporter of its schools of business, public health and medicine.
He has been especially generous to students, establishing the Kay Family Public Health Scholarship Fund at Harvard in 1995 and the Kay Fellows Fund at Brandeis in 2005. He also has been trustee or director at the Controlled Risk Insurance Company; the TH Lee Putnam Investment Trust; the Boston Symphony Orchestra; the Children’s Museum; and Tenacity, a tennis-instruction and academic-enrichment program for Boston youth.
Honorary Degree Citation
Corporate leader, generous benefactor, counselor to institutions of higher education.
Combining achievement in the world of finance with support of social institutions, you demonstrate a passionate concern for our commonwealth. For half a century you have pursued a vibrant and successful career leading to a senior directorship at Goldman, Sachs & Company.
Throughout, you have supported your alma mater and its schools of business, public health, and medicine. You have helped guide the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and other institutions that anchor this region’s cultural richness, including the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Children’s Museum. You have established funds at Harvard and Brandeis that will support in perpetuity educational opportunities for students.
Of particular note to the members of this academic community, you have been a dedicated member of our governing board, serving ultimately as chairman, helping to guide Brandeis through a period of remarkable growth and development.
In acknowledgement of your commitment to combine personal success with social consciousness, and in deep gratitude for your efforts to ensure a vibrant future for this special institution, Brandeis University is proud to bestow upon you its highest honor.
