The Hope College Alumni Association will present an Alumni Meritorious Service Award to Richard E. Huff of Holland during the college's Winter Happening event on Saturday, Jan. 17.
The Hope College Alumni Association will present an Alumni Meritorious Service Award to Richard E. Huff of Holland during the college's Winter Happening event on Saturday, Jan. 17.
The award recognizes a person's contributions to Hope and its alumni through notable personal service and long-time involvement with the college. Huff will be recognized during the Winter Happening luncheon, which will begin at 12:30 p.m. in the Haworth Inn and Conference Center.
A 1952 Hope graduate, Huff has lived in Holland in retirement since 1991. He previously worked in New York City for 38 years, most recently as vice president, revenue bonds, with American Municipal Bond Assurance Corp. Through the years he had also held positions with Merrill Lynch, as a securities analyst; Halsey, Stuart & Co., in investment banking; and Standard & Poor's Corp., as an analyst, manager, vice president and managing director. His volunteer activity in New York included serving on the Monroe-Woodbury, N.Y., School Board and the Tuxedo, N.Y., Planning Commission.
He has lived at Freedom Village since the center opened. He has become active in the Holland community, including as a member of the board of the Downtown Development Authority, the City of Holland Planning Commission and the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority.
Huff has been active with the college while living both on the East Coast and in Holland. His activities have ranged from hosting the student Baker Scholars group during a visit to New York City, to serving on the Baker Scholars selection committee and as a "Class Rep" for the Class of '52, to attending numerous Hope athletic events.
His charitable interests also include the Mohonk Preserve in upstate New York. He has combined his life-long interest in the preserve with his interest in the college by contributing to a fund to allow Hope geology and environmental science students to participate in summer internships at the preserve.
He supports the college in numerous other ways. He has, for example, taken an active interest in the Janet Mulder and Metta Ross Scholarship Fund, established in honor of Mulder, who was his aunt, and Ross, who were both members of the Hope faculty.
Huff was a second-generation Hope student - his mother Mabelle was a member of the Class of '21, and his father Frank a member of the Class of '25. He majored in economics at Hope, where as a student he was also a member of the Fraternal Society, the golf team, and the business and economics club.
Winter Happening will feature multiple seminars in two blocks in the morning, a luncheon with musical entertainment, home men's and women's basketball, men's and women's swimming competition, and an art exhibition. Additional information may be obtained by calling the college's Office of Public and Community Relations at (616) 395-7860.