Honorary Alumnus: Frank Stanton

Frank Stanton is perhaps best known at The Cooper Union for endowing the professor of Design at The Cooper Union position.  Frank Stanton was a friend of legendary designers Lou Dorfsman A’39 and Herb Lubalin A’39.  He was the President of CBS for multiple decades.  He was born in Ohio and received his B.S. degree from Ohio State University.  He received his PhD from Ohio Wesleyan University. By 1938, Dr. Stanton had become CBS’s research director with a staff of 100. He was appointed President of CBS in 1946 by the CBS founder,William S. Paley when Frank was 38 years old. Frank unveiled the CBS Eye logo in 1951.

Frank was a staunch supporter of press free speech rights under the First Amendment.  In 1963, after the assassination of President Kennedy, Frank Stanton kept CBS News on the air for four straight days without commercial interruption.  After retiring from CBS, Frank Stanton chaired the American Red Cross for six years. He served on the boards of the Rockefeller Foundation, the Carnegie Institution, the Stanford Research Institute and Lincoln Center and Harvard University.

The CUAA honored Frank Stanton as Honorary Alumnus of the Year in 1981.

In 1984, The Cooper Union awarded Frank Stanton, former chairman of CBS, a Doctor of Humane Letters, for ”dedicated, courageous advocacy of the constitutional rights of broadcast journalism.”

Frank Stanton was inducted into the 3rd Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame in 1986. In 1999, he was given a lifetime achievement award for his First Amendment work by the New York chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. He also received five Peabody Awards for distinguished achievement and public service.

In 2007, Frank Stanton became a member of the Peter Cooper Heritage Society when he made a large donation to the Cooper Union Building Fund in honor of Luis Dorfsman A’39 and Ann Dorfsman A’39.

Links:

COOPER UNION IS HAILED FOR EDUCATING THE POOR, William R. Greer, The New York Times, May 24, 1984.  Link

Archive of American Television, Frank Stanton Interview, 2001.  Link

Frank Stanton (executive), Wikipedia Link

At Cooper Summer 2007 Link