Distinguished Alumni Award Winner Profile

Orville F. Grahame, '25BA, '29JD, was born at Palo, Iowa, April 2, 1904. He has served as vice president and general counsel for the Paul Revere Life Insurance Company and the Massachusetts Protective Association, Inc., since 1949. Mr. Grahame is a Fellow of the Insurance Institute of America and a past president of the National Advisory Committee, by appointment of President Eisenhower, which set up the White Conference on Aging in 1961. Mr. Grahame is married to the former Pauline Patton, '26BA. They make their home in Worcester, Massachusetts. His Distinguished Service Award Citation reads:

In each age of history, the law has had its leaders—men of sentiment and wisdom whose insights have given solidity to human achievement and added dimension to men's dreams. In these days of vast change and growth, in the scope and body of the law as in all facets of human society, Orville F. Grahame is one of these.

As Vice-President and General Counsel of the Paul Revere Insurance Company and the Massachusetts Protective Association, he has achieved eminence in a combination of professions. His professional counsel, his writing and speaking, his studies and analyses in the interrelated and increasingly complex fields of insurance and the law are significant contributions in both professions.

He is a quiet and kindly man of intellect, whose interests and studies range the spectrum of human institutions. The breadth of his understanding of men is reflected in his view of the law as basic to wise conduct, sound growth, and fundamental security—for individuals, but alike for the corporate giants they create. Is it not through the leadership of wise men of sentiment that we shall sustain the human spirit, whatever the corporate shape of civilizations yet to come?

Professionally, and in politics, and civic affairs, and in the arts—and through his solid support of this institution—Orville Grahame has enlarged horizons of the mind and spirit.

His University is proud to acknowledge the leadership of his example with this Distinguished Service Award.