If by some formula, the dedication of Hobart and William Smith graduates to their alma mater might be quantified and ranked, the name Judith Haslam Cross would rise to the very top.
She graduated from William Smith in 1952 with a degree in English and began soon to involve herself in the life of the Colleges, creating a 40year legacy of limitless commitment to Hobart and William Smith. The chief example: membership in the Board of Trustees, from 1984 until 1992, including service as Board vice-chair. At various junctures, she served on the admissions, development, library, and honors committees, and on the Executive Council. She continues to serve as an honorary trustee.
Since 1960, when she became class agent, she has evidenced her affection for the Colleges in sundry ways. She also has served as class correspondent, 1975-90 and 1999 through the present, and as a class Reunion chair. She has made immeasurable contributions to the Colleges' development efforts, including her chairmanship of the trustee's Development Committee. Ms. Cross also chaired committees for the Alumnae Fund, Special Gifts, and Leadership Giving, among others, applying her own love for Hobart and William Smith as an elixir for that of others. She was a regional chair for the mid-1980s fund-raising campaign, and then national co-chair for the recently completed Campaign for Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
Beyond her monumental fund-raising efforts, she has been a persistent agitator for programs that help perpetuate the legacy of Hobart and William Smith—the latter especially. She was a driving force for the creation of the Alumna Achievement Award, chairing the committee that led to its establishment in 1998.
Less easily communicated is the grace and dignity with which Ms. Cross conducts all her enterprises on behalf of the Colleges—the unassuming and genuine sentiment she brings to the task. Perhaps it was this spirit that the Colleges intended to acknowledge in 1981, when Ms. Cross was presented with the prestigious Alumnae Citation, and, in 1993, the Elizabeth Herendeen Odell Award; and which we celebrate today.
Like her fellow honorary degree recipients, Ms. Cross is also a parent of a Hobart and William Smith graduate. Her daughter Alexandra was a member of the William Smith Class of 1985.
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