May 5, 2009

MEDIA CONTACT: Nick Massella
202-994-3087; massella@gwu.edu

GW PRESIDENT EMERITUS STEPHEN JOEL TRACHTENBERG PORTRAIL TO BE UNVEILED
MAY 6, 2009

EVENT:  

The George Washington University President Emeritus Stephen Joel Trachtenberg will be recognized for 19 years of dedicated service as University President with a portrait painted by Everett Raymond Kinstler. Kinstler has painted 6 U.S. presidents including the official White House portraits of Ford and Reagan; more than 50 cabinet officials; personalities including Tony Bennett, Katherine Hepburn, and John D. Rockerfeller, III; and college and university presidents from Brown, Princeton, and Yale universities and Harvard. A reception will follow.

WHEN:   

Wednesday, May 6, 2009; 4:30 - 6:30 p.m.

WHERE:   

The George Washington University
Media and Public Affairs Building
Brady Art Gallery, 2nd Floor
805 21st St., NW, Washington, D.C.
Foggy Bottom - GWU Metro Station (Orange and Blue lines)

RSVP: 

Media are welcome and should RSVP to Nick Massella at 202-994-3087 or massella@gwu.edu.

BACKGROUND:

For nearly 40 years, Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, GW President Emeritus and University President of Public Service, has dedicated his career to improving higher education. He served as GW's 15th president from 1988 to 2007. He came to GW from the University of Hartford, where he had been president for 11 years. Before assuming the presidency of Hartford, Trachtenberg served for eight years at Boston University as vice president for academic services and academic dean of the College of Liberal Arts. He also was a special assistant to the U.S. Education Commissioner, Department of Health, Education and Welfare, an attorney with the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, and a legislative aide to former Indiana Congressman John Brademas.

Trachtenberg earned a bachelor's degree from Columbia University in 1959, a Juris Doctor from Yale University in 1962, and a Master of Public Administration from Harvard University in 1966. He also has received more than 15 honorary degrees in recognition of his contributions to higher education and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, The Council on Foreign Relations, and The National Academy of Public Administration. Trachtenberg and his wife, Francine Zorn Trachtenberg, have two sons: Adam and Ben.

Everett Raymond Kinstler is a native New Yorker who began his career at age 16, drawing comic books and hundreds of book and magazine illustrations, as well as covers for paper back books. As one of the "golden age" era of comic book artists, his illustrations for magazines, including The Shadow and Doc Savage, have influenced the pop art school. He studied at the Art Students League, where he later taught from 1969 to 1974. Kinstler ultimately made the transition to portraitist, and soon established himself as one of the nation's foremost portrait painters. For over four decades, he has devoted time to painting landscapes and watercolors. Kinstler was awarded honorary doctorates by Rollins College in 1983 and the Lyme Academy College of Art in 2002. The National Portrait Gallery has acquired 75 of his original works for its permanent collection. He is also represented in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Butler Institute of American Art, Brooklyn Museum, etc. In 1999, Kinstler received the Copley Medal from the Smithsonian, National Portrait Gallery, its highest honor.

For more information about the life and works of Everett Raymond Kinstler, visit www.everettraymondkinstler.com.

For more information about Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, visit www.gwu.edu/~presemer.

For more news about The George Washington University, visit www.gwnewscenter.org.

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