After Many Years of Service

Three long-serving life trustees retired from their positions with the Grinnell College Board of Trustees in 2015.

Richard W. Booth ’54 was first elected to the board in 1982 and became a life trustee in 2002. Booth’s firm belief in the value of the liberal arts and his hope for the success of all Grinnell students led to steady support of student scholarships by Booth and his wife Anne Chandler Booth ’56.

Richard Booth is part of a family legacy of Grinnell graduates starting with his great-grandfather, David Norris 1872, who founded Lennox Machine Co. in Marshalltown, Iowa, in 1895, a manufacturer of coal-fired furnaces.

After graduating from Grinnell, Booth served in the U.S. Air Force from 1954–58 as a jet pilot. An economics major at Grinnell, Booth began working for Lennox as an inspector in 1958. He worked for what is now Lennox International, a furnace and air conditioning manufacturer, for many years. He was executive vice president and secretary of the corporation until he retired in 1997.

James H. Lowry ’61 was first elected to the board in 1969 and became a life trustee in 1995. He’s contributed to campus building and renovation projects such as the Conney M. Kimbo Black Cultural Center and the Charles Benson Bear ’39 Recreation and Athletic Center.

Lowry participated in three Grinnell sports — baseball, football, and basketball — and became the first Pioneer in 30 years to earn nine varsity letters. He majored in political science at Grinnell and went on to earn a master’s in public international affairs from the University of Pittsburgh; he also attended the Program for Management Development at Harvard Business School.

In 1978, he and his team at James H. Lowry & Associates in Chicago wrote a groundbreaking study for the U.S. Department of Commerce, “A New Strategy for Minority Business Development.” A world-renowned authority on minority business development, Lowry is co-author of Minority Business Success: Refocusing on the American Dream (Stanford Business Books, 2011).

Ronald T. Gault ’62 was elected to the board in 1987 and became a life trustee in 2002. He and his wife Charlayne Hunter-Gault have contributed generously of their time and talents to students.

A former member of the Board of Higher Education of New York, he has been involved in minority advancement programs and has contributed advice and counsel to the College in this regard.

A political science major at Grinnell, Gault had a wide-ranging career that included work with USAID, the U.S. Foreign Service, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Ford Foundation, First Boston Corporation, and J.P. Morgan. For J.P. Morgan, he served as CEO of business development and client relations in Johannesburg, South Africa. Gault and his wife also began producing South African wine in 2003 under the label Passages.