Carolina Alumni Award
Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award
Past Recipients

Named for the great humanitarian and philanthropist, Algernon Sydney Sullivan. After his death, the Southern Society, based in New York, set up the award and each year allows each Southern university or college to make the award to an outstanding alumnus who has given service to his fellow man beyond that required by his job or profession. Prior recipients are:

1927  George H. Huggins
1928  Dr. J.H. McLeod
1931  Bernard A. Early
1932  Frank C. Withers
1933  Richard H. Sullivan
1935  Dr. G.A. Wauchope
1936  Dr. Robert P. Dell
1937  Wil Lou Gray
1938  Dr. Ernest Cooper
1939  Dr. C. Frederick Williams
1940  Rev. Thomas Noe
1947  Dr. Leonard T. Baker
1948  Dr. Robert W. Gibbes, Jr.
1949  Francenia Brennen
1950  Christie Benet
1951  Caroline McKissick Dial
1952  Max Citron
1953  Robert M. Cooper
1954  Lionel K. Legge
1955  David W. Robinson
1956  Dr. Robert Lee Sanders
1957  Mrs. Donald Russell
1958  B.M. Edwards
1959  Beverly Herbert
1960  George Bell Timmerman, Sr.
1961  Chris P. Leventis
1962  Rutledge L. Osborne
1963  John Henderson Lumpkin
1964  Charles E. Simons, III
1965  Frank F. Welbourne
1966  Jessie Coleman McPherson
1967  Charles W. Knowlton
1968  E. Smythe Gambrell
1969  Robert W. Hemphill
1970  J. Willis Cantey
1971  W.W. "Hootie" Johnson
1972  Arthur M. Williams
1973  Leonard L. Long
1974  Robert E. Penland
1975  Wiliam "Bully" Weston, Jr., M.D.
1976  G. Cameron Todd
1977  William H. Patterson
1978  Wilbur S. Smith
1979  Paul A. Sansbury
1980  Robert E. McNair
1981  Donald Russell
1982  Ernest F. Hollings
1983  Guy Lipscomb
1984  John Swearingen
1985  Jean Galloway Bissell
1986  Rembert C. Dennis
1987  William Reece Smith, Jr.
1988  John C. Lindsay
1989  Alex English
1990  Robert V. Royall, Jr.
1991  Jean Hoefer Toal
1992  Edward L. Addison
1993  James W. Pearce
1994  Dr. Margaret S. Richardson
1995  J. Preston Darby, M.D.
1996  Ada B. Thomas
1997  D. Strother Pope, M.D.
1998  Paula Harper Bethea
1999  Bradley D. Smith
2000 Rev. Dr. George E. Meetze
2002 The Honorable Paul S. Goldsmith
2003 Henry Lucius Laffitte Sr., M.D.

2004

J. Frank Martin Sr., MD

The Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award is given each year to an outstanding alumnus who has rendered service to humanity beyond that required by job or profession. The 2004 recipient is known for his landmark research into the risk factors associated with heart disease, but he is also known for having a big heart. He’s been a volunteer physician to USC sports teams, a board member of the AIDS Benefit Foundation and a mentor to drug addicts and alcoholics for the Salvation Army. For more than 20 years, despite an eye injury and his battle with cancer, he’s treated patients at the Free Medical Clinic in Columbia. Dr. J. Frank Martin Sr. exemplifies the humanitarian principles embodied in this award.

2005

Robert A. “Bobby” Dobson, ’60, ’62 law, a Greenville resident who heads several charitable and philanthropic organizations, is founder and board chairman of the Dobson Volunteer Service Program at USC. Dobson practiced tax law for nearly 30 years in Greenville and is now involved in private investment management and is chairman of Dobson Ministries, a non-profit Christian ministry founded by his father and funded by the Dobson family. He also is chairman of the board of Homeless Children International Inc. and of the Walker Foundation (benefits the S.C. School for the Deaf and the Blind). In addition, Dobson serves on the boards of several organizations, including School Ministries Inc., Wisdom in Living Life Ministries, the United Way of Greenville County, and A Child’s Haven Inc. He and his wife, Catherine, have eight children.
 

2006

Katherine Anne Close, '88 M.D., is the director of Baskerville Free Medical Clinic near Georgetown, S.C. She also works to provide medical care to those who would otherwise go without in Haiti. Dr. Close graduated from Wofford College in 1983 and then came to Carolina, graduating from the School of Medicine in 1988. In 2004, she earned a graduate degree from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. Under Dr. Close's leadership as Medical Director of the Smith Medical Clinic, which serves a primarily indigent population on Pawleys Island, the clinic has added a pharmacy, built a substantial budget and increased patient visits four-fold. Her work as Medical Director for Haitians Missions has helped people with unmet medical needs and scarce resources.