Fellows » Distinguished Fellows Award
LGC established the Distinguished Fellow Award to honor a Fellow who has made a significant leadership contribution to the community.
For the first four years, the Chicago Community Trust provided a $25,000 award that the Distinguished Fellow could designate to the
organization of his or her choice. Today, the Distinguished Fellow has the opportunity to name an organization of his/her choice as
LGC’s Annual Holiday Party Beneficiary. Donations made at this annual event typically range from $4,000 to $7,000. LGC alumni are
eligible to nominate their peers for the award, which is awarded at the annual dinner.
John W. Rogers, Jr., 2000
John W. Rogers, Jr., a 1985 Fellow and President of Ariel Capital Management, was the first Distinguished Fellow Award recipient. John created Ariel Capital Management in 1983 and led its growth to a firm that manages $2.5 billion in assets. He established the Ariel Foundation in 1991 and ‘adopted' 40 sixth grade students at Shakespeare Elementary School in Kenwood and made a commitment that every student graduating from high school would be able to afford college. He dedicated staff and financial resources to make this possible, including tutoring, mentoring and family support, and funding parochial and private high school tuition. Eventually 84% of the students graduated from high school and 65% went on to college. In contrast, 68% of the students in Shakespeare's previous two classes dropped out of high school.
John served as President of the Board of the Chicago Park District and has made long-term Board commitments to the Chicago Urban League and Family Focus. John has shown a rare ability to cross boundaries among leaders. He has worked with both Republicans and Democrats, leaders of all racial and ethnic backgrounds and public and private leaders. In his business he has created socially responsible investment funds and funded research on investment practices of African Americans to encourage use of the stockmarket as a means of building wealth in the community
Distinguished Fellows Award
LGC established the Distinguished Fellow Award to honor a Fellow who has made a significant leadership
contribution to the community.
Recipients