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Vol. 24, No. 6 Oct. 16, 1998

COLUMBIA HONORS DR. MORAN WESTON: ALUMNUS, ACTIVIST AND TRUSTEE EMERITUS (see photo)

MINISTER AND SOCIAL ACTIVIST, HE BUILT HOUSING IN HARLEM DURING TIME OF NEED

Columbia honored alumnus and emeritus trustee Dr. M. Moran Weston II at a reception on Tues, Oct. 13, 1998 in the Rotunda of Low Memorial Library.

Weston, who holds both a bachelor's degree and a Ph.D. from the University, in 1969 became one of the first African-Americans elected to Columbia's Board of Trustees. The former rector of St. Philip's Episcopal Church and founder of the Carver Federal Savings Bank, Weston is well known and respected in the community for his efforts to provide affordable housing in the city at a time when the housing need was most acute.

Moran Weston graduated from Columbia College in 1930, earned a master's degree from Union Theological Seminary in 1934 and a doctorate in social history from Columbia two decades later. In addition, he was awarded honorary degrees by Columbia, Virginia Theological Seminary and Fordham. He served as a University Trustee from 1969 to 1981, at which time he was named Trustee Emeritus. He is also professor emeritus at the State University of New York at Albany, where he taught social history from 1969-1977. In 1948, Weston founded the Harlem-based Carver Federal Savings Bank, which he directed, and served on its board continuously for 50 years, becoming chairman emeritus in 1998.

Through his work as a banker, he became aware of the grave urgency in housing, and it became his mission. He devoted time and money to founding six non-profit housing development corporations, which have provided thousands of homes for low-income families in New York City. He founded the Community Service Council of Greater Harlem, and served as president of the Douglas Circle Development Corporation, the Housing for People Corporation and the Harlem on the Hudson Development Corporation. In addition to his work in housing development, he also offered his community spiritual guidance. From 1957 to 1982, Weston served as rector of St. Philip's Episcopal Church, one of America's oldest and largest predominantly black Episcopal churches. As rector, he built the Upper Manhattan Child Development/Day Care Center adjacent to the church and sponsored two apartment buildings, which provided 460 family units to the community. He also oversaw the construction of a 200-bed nursing home-a desperately needed resource for the area-on 138th Street.

In 1981, the Archbishop of Canterbury visited St. Philip's Church and conferred the St. Augustine's Cross upon Weston. After serving the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine from 1952-1957, he became an Honorary Canon and sat on the Board of Trustees from 1983 to 1987, becoming an emeritus trustee in 1987.

Throughout his life, Weston has been beloved as a leader in community affairs. As a journalist, his columns on social and political issues ran in five black newspapers for almost 10 years. He has been a member of dozens of academic and public service committees.

As a lifetime member of the NAACP, he joined their Legal Defense Fund as a trustee in 1964. He is a former chairman of the trustees of St. Augustine's College in North Carolina, and has been a trustee of Mount Sinai Medical School and Hospital since 1971. Weston has served as a trustee of CARE and its board of governors since 1980, and served for 10 years as a trustee of the Phelps Stokes Fund and for 10 years as governor of the Foreign Policy Association.

In one of his greatest civic accomplishments, he founded and chaired the National Association for Affordable Housing in 1983 with the motto "For Every Person a Home-A Decent Place to Live."

Weston is married to Miriam Drake Weston, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist. They have two children, Mother Catherine Weston, a nun in the Greek Orthodox Church, and Gregory Weston, a partner in the New York City law firm Battle Fowler LLP, who graduated from the Columbia Law School in 1982. The Westons have two grandchildren.