The Honorable J. Granger and Mrs. Anne Macfarlane of Roanoke, have received the 12th Annual Chancellor’s Award for Leadership in Philanthropy. The Macfarlanes were nominated for the award by Virginia Western Community College. The award was given at a luncheon ceremony at the Country Club of Virginia on Tuesday, April 18.
Hosted by the Virginia Foundation for Community College Education, this annual event honors leading philanthropists from each of Virginia’s 23 community colleges as well as the statewide foundation. This year’s class of distinguished philanthropy leaders has contributed a combined total of more than $10 million dollars to Virginia’s Community Colleges.
Mr. Macfarlane currently serves Virginia Western Community College as member of the Local Advisory Board and Finance Committee of the Local Advisory Board. MacFarlane has been the President and Owner of Eastern Motor Inns, Inc. since 1971. He serves as Managing Director of the Virginia Eastern Company, L.L.C. in Roanoke and has been a Director of RADVA Corp. since 1977. Macfarlane served as a Member of the Virginia Senate from 1984 to 1991.
“We are fortunate at Virginia Western to benefit from having someone on our Local Advisory Board with the valuable insight and perspective Granger holds on so many important issues,” said Dr. Robert H. Sandel, President of Virginia Western. “He is a class act, and a wonderful ambassador for Virginia Western.”
In addition to his leadership and guidance, Mr. Macfarlane and Mrs. Macfarlane have supported the Virginia Western Educational Foundation with an annual scholarship to provide students of the hotel, restaurant, management degree program with financial assistance for tuition and textbooks. They have also established an endowment to benefit the students of Virginia Western Community College’s Community College Access Program (CCAP).
Chancellor Glenn DuBois expressed his gratitude in his address to the crowd on Tuesday. “You are difference-makers. You are opportunity-creators. We thank you, not just for the dollars donated, but for the standard of leadership you represent. Your example motivates and challenges us all to do more to ensure that opportunity is there for those who come next.”
Keynote speaker John O. “Dubby” Wynne, chairman of GO Virginia and Reinvent Hampton Roads, said he was honored to be a part of the event and he emphasized the generous donations he and others have made are having a positive impact on the communities Virginia’s Community Colleges serve. “In many instances, your gifts are the difference between average or good and excellent in student performance,” he observed.
Wynne also issued an appeal to members of the audience to increase their level of support to help train and educate Virginia’s workforce for economic growth.
