Gibson, Whittemore, Loeb receive 2004 DRI President's Medals for supporting Institute
Harvey Whittemore and the late David Loeb, founders of Wingfield Springs' Red Hawk Golf Club in Sparks, and longtime Nevada business leader Fred Gibson, of Las Vegas, have received the Desert Research Institute's President's Medals from DRI President Dr. Stephen G. Wells for their outstanding support of the institute. The medals, awarded as part of the institute's annual Nevada Medal awards ceremonies each spring, are presented by DRI as its highest civic acknowledgment in lieu of traditional honorary doctorates.
Wells noted that Gibson, a founding trustee of the DRI Research Foundation in the 1980s and currently a foundation board member, had provided "extraordinary service" as an advisor to several DRI presidents and as a leading advocate for the institute in business and government circles. Gibson, who recently retired as chairman, president and CEO at American Pacific Corp., is a commissioner of the Nevada Commission on Economic Development and chairman of the State of Nevada Commission on Mineral Resources. He serves on numerous public and civic boards in Nevada.
Wells also cited Red Hawk Golf Club's "value-added" role in supporting the institute's annual fund raising golf tournament "beyond the level expected in a client-customer relationship." He said the development's environmental ethic, symbolized by its recognition as Nevada's first Audubon International Signature Sanctuary--one of only 35 in the world, reflected the leadership values of financial industry magnate Loeb and Nevada attorney and legislative lobbyist Whittemore. Whittemore, a shareholder in the statewide law firm of Lionel, Sawyer & Collins, capped his acceptance at the March 9 Nevada Medal awards dinner with a surprise $25,000 donation to the DRI Research Foundation.
A nonprofit, statewide division of the University and Community College System of Nevada, DRI pursues a full-time program of basic and applied environmental research on a local, national, and international scale. Nearly 500 full- and part-time scientists, technicians, and support staff conduct some 150 research projects at DRI annually. More than 85 percent of DRI's annual $37 million operating budget consists of research grants and contracts obtained by its scientists. The balance is received from the state of Nevada for administrative costs.