NEW YORK — Fordham University will honor Stephen E. Bepler, FCRH ’64, and his wife, Kim Bepler, at the 2007 Fordham Founder’s Award Dinner, emceed by award-winning actress, choreographer and director Debbie Allen. The sixth annual dinner will be held on Monday, March 26, at 6:30 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf=Astoria.
DATE: MONDAY, MARCH 26
TIME: 6:30 P.M. COCKTAILS/7:15 P.M. DINNER
PLACE: THE WALDORF=ASTORIA GRAND BALLROOM
PARK AVE., BETWEEN 49TH AND 50TH STS.
Stephen Bepler, a past trustee of Fordham University, has been an investment adviser for 40 years. Since 1972, he has been with Capital Research and Management where he now serves as president and principal executive officer of Capital World Growth and Income Fund and executive vice president of Europacific Growth Fund. Together with Kim Bepler, he has created the Karl Rahner, S.J., Chair in Theology, held by Mark S. Massa, S.J., Ph.D., and the John D. Boyd, S.J., Chair in Poetry. He serves as a trustee of Washington Theological Union, Barnard College, Cristo Rey High School and Fairfield University.
Kim Bepler is a philanthropist and the former director of business development at Cahners Travel Group. She is a longtime volunteer at the Nativity Mission Center, a Jesuit middle school on New York’s Lower East Side, and assisted in the merger of New York City’s three Nativity Schools, to which both she and Stephen Bepler provide financial support. As vice chair of the Nativity Mission Center’s board of trustees, Kim Bepler strives to raise awareness of the center’s mission, and helps develop creative programming. With Stephen Bepler, she has contributed to many Fordham scholarship funds, created scholarships, endowed faculty chairs and supported the renovation of the University Church.
Debbie Allen received the Golden Globe for her role as Lydia Grant in the hit series Fame, and is a three-time Emmy Award winner for choreography. She has choreographed the Academy Awards a record 10 times, six in consecutive years, and has directed and choreographed for legendary artists Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, Gwen Verdon, Lena Horne and Sammy Davis Jr. In April Allen will premiere Alex in Wonderland, a musical exploring the relevance of fairy tales to a 13-year-old boy, at the Kennedy Center in Washington.
The Fordham Founder’s Award, conferred at the black-tie dinner, recognizes individuals whose personal and professional lives reflect the highest aspirations of the University’s defining traditions, as an institution dedicated to wisdom and learning in the service of others. Proceeds from the gala will benefit the Fordham Founder’s Presidential Scholarship Fund.
