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October 26, 2009
Emory Medalists’ engaged leadership benefits diverse communities

By Eric Rangus

The 2009 Emory Medalists include an attorney whose lifelong relationship with Emory will positively impact students for generations to come, and an ordained minister whose humanitarian work as the head of one of the world’s largest non-governmental organizations (NGOs) has improved the lives of more than 100 million people around the globe.

At a black-tie ceremony Oct. 30, in Cox Hall, those alumni, Henry Bowden Jr. ’74L and Arthur Keys Jr. ’92T, will receive the Emory Medal. Awarded by the Emory Alumni Association (EAA), the Emory Medal is the highest University award given exclusively to alumni.

Henry Bowden Jr. has made the promotion of Emory’s best interests an integral part of his everyday life since arriving as a student at the School of Law nearly four decades ago. An accomplished attorney, he is the founder of Bowden Law Firm (recently renamed Bowden Spratt Law Firm), whose practice focuses on estate planning and administration, charitable gift planning, and the representation of tax-exempt organizations.
Bowden was president of the Emory Law Alumni Association in 1986–87, has been a lifetime trustee on the Emory Board of Trustees since 1986 and was selected as a Distinguished Alumnus by the law school in 2005. Bowden also plays an active role in the Atlanta community, having served as chairman of the Atlanta Ballet and of the historic Oakland Cemetery Foundation, which are just two of his many legal and cultural leadership roles.

His passionate commitment to and generous support of Emory is something of a Bowden legacy: his wife Jeanne (who Bowden met at Cox Hall), grandfather, father, sister, and son all attended the University, and scholarships awarded in each of his parents’ names are granted by the law school and the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing.

Arthur Keys Jr.'s ’92T dedication to Emory’s values and ideals reach far beyond campus. As the founder, president and CEO of International Relief and Development (IRD), an NGO committed to improving the living conditions of the world’s most vulnerable populations, Keys has been involved in the management of approximately $1 billion of development assistance, with major grants from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Labor and the Department of State.

IRD’s staff has grown to roughly 3,000 people worldwide in 10 years, and the organization currently serves more than 100 million people around the globe. With Keys’ guidance, IRD has begun a partnership with Candler School of Theology and Emory’s Institute of Developing Nations, an initiative that provides grants to foster research on international development and conflict resolution.

For his work on issues related to poverty and global inequality, Keys received the 2005 William Sloane Coffin Award for Peace and Justice from Yale University Divinity School.


“The contributions of Henry Bowden and Arthur Keys to the Emory community have been remarkable,” said Leslie Wingate ’82C, senior director for alumni programs with the EAA. “Their engagement with the Emory community serves as an example for all alumni to follow. Fewer than 150 alumni have received the Emory Medal and the EAA is proud to welcome our 2009 recipients into this exclusive group.”