The Bowdoin College Board of Trustees elected two new members and recognized the contributions of a longstanding member with emeritus status during meetings held October 6-8, 2016, on campus.
The board elected Robert T. Friedman P’15, P’20 and Bertrand Garcia-Moreno ’81, P’17 trustees to five-year terms effective through June 2021.
Robert Friedman, a Bowdoin parent twice over, is president and founder of The YF Group, a real estate investment firm based in Santa Monica, Calif., which has owned, developed and operated various commercial and residential properties throughout the western U.S. Friedman serves on the board of governors of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, as chair of the board of trustees for Crossroads School For Arts & Sciences in Santa Monica, and as a member of the board of trustees of the High Mountain Institute in Leadville, Colo. He is also involved in a number of civic and philanthropic endeavors, and supports various charitable organizations. Robert lives with his wife, Diana, in Los Angeles. Their son, Joshua Friedman, is a member of the Class of 2015; their daughter, Jessica Friedman, is a member of the Class of 2020; and their son, Sam Friedman, is a graduate of Colorado College, Class of 2015.
Bertrand Garcia-Moreno, a member of the Class of 1981, is a professor and chair of the Department of Biophysics in the Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md. With a PhD in chemistry from Indiana University, Garcia-Moreno went on to develop expertise in the physical chemistry of biological macromolecules, with special emphasis on proteins. His research is focused on experimental and computational studies of the relationship between structure and energy in proteins. In addition to his teaching and research, Garcia-Moreno is also active on various editorial boards, most notably that of the journal Proteins: Structure, Function, and Bioinformatics, where he has served as editor-in-chief for more than five years. Garcia-Moreno’s daughter, Ana Garcia-Moreno, is a member of the Class of 2017.
Michele Cyr ’76, P’12, a trustee since 2000 and elected chair in February 2016, presided over the meetings during which trustees welcomed Shelley Hearne ’83, elected when the board met in May 2016, to her first meeting as a new trustee.
Geoffrey C. Rusack, ’78, P’13, a trustee since 2003, was elected to emeritus status in recognition of devoted service to Bowdoin.
Trustees also voted to approve design and preconstruction services for what is to be the new center for the environment at the corner of College Street and Harpswell Road.
In recognition of his extraordinary service, a fund bearing the name of Trustee Emeritus Frederick G. P. Thorne ’57 was established and shall be invested in the endowment for use by the College president for general purposes.