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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (May 1, 2004) — Noted philanthropist and community leader Sarah Belk Gambrell was named the 2004 recipient of the prestigious Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award. President Pamela Lewis presented the award as part of the Queens University of Charlotte undergraduate commencement ceremony in Dana Auditorium on May 1, 2004.
For more than fifty years, the New York Southern Society has granted Queens the privilege of bestowing two Algernon Sydney Sullivan awards each year — one to a member of the graduating class and the other to a person who is affiliated with the University in some other capacity. The Society specifies the following: "The award is a continuing reminder that the noblest qualities are those characteristics of heart, mind, and conduct which evidence a love for, and helpfulness to, other men and women. True nobility is found in those who move beyond the narrow circle of their self-interest and spend themselves in the interest of humanity."
Although not a Queens graduate herself, Gambrell clearly embodies the spirit of the award, and is the middle link of three generations of Queens women. Her mother was a member of the Class of 1901 and her daughter a member of the Class of 1987. Her mother served Queens in her later years as president of the Alumni Association and was the recipient of this very same Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award in 1957.
Gambrell graduated in 1939 from Sweet Briar College in Virginia and is an accomplished businesswoman and civic leader in Charlotte and the Southeastern United States. She serves as a director for Belk, Inc., which includes 210 department stores spread across sixteen states. She is also very active in business and civic affairs and the arts in New York City, where she maintains a second residence.
Gambrell has demonstrated a deep and abiding commitment to the cultural life of Charlotte, especially music and the visual arts. She is a devoted and longtime member of Myers Park Presbyterian Church, and has been a passionate supporter of arts organizations at Queens. She was a longtime board member of the Friends of Art and the Friends of Music at Queens, and was the catalyst for a creative collaboration between the Friends of Music and Charlotte Sister Cities. Performing groups from Charlotte’s sister cities now perform in local schools, then perform at Queens’ Dana Auditorium as a result of her efforts and financial support. |
