2024 Distinguished Alumni Awards Washington and Lee University is proud to announce this year's Distinguished Alumni Award winners

Office of Alumni Engagement
April 12, 2024

Washington and Lee University is proud to announce this year’s Distinguished Alumni Award winners. We will celebrate the recipients during Alumni Weekend, May 2-5, 2024.

Mr. Theodore ‘Ted’ Bauer ’74

Ted Bauer received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington and Lee in 1974. He was a member of the Delta Tau Delta fraternity and a member of the varsity men’s lacrosse team.

While at W&L, Bauer was a three-time first-team All-American in 1972, 1973 and 1974. As a midfielder, he was instrumental in the team reaching the NCAA semifinals before suffering losses in 1973 to the University of Maryland and in 1974 to Johns Hopkins University. In 1973, he won the Wheelwright Trophy as W&L’s Most Valuable Player. He represented W&L in the 1974 North/South Collegiate All-Star game. Bauer was also a member of Team USA, which won the 1974 World Games of Lacrosse in Melbourne, Australia. After graduating from W&L, he played for the Chesapeake Lacrosse Club from 1975-82, earning club all-star honors in 1975, 1976 and 1977. He was president and club representative of Chesapeake LC from 1978-1982, and an assistant coach for the Chesapeake LC in 1986 and 1988-1989.

In 1991, Bauer was W&L’s first inductee to the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame. He is considered one of the greatest lacrosse players in the storied history of the sport at W&L. At his induction to the Lacrosse Hall of Fame, he was described by his coach, Jack Emmer: “Of that whole decade when Washington and Lee was perceived as David slaying many Goliaths, the best of the best was Teddy Bauer.” Beginning in 1983, he was a member of the USILA Lacrosse All-American Selection Committee, serving as chairman from 1985-2000. He also served on the Hall of Fame Nominating Committee from 1985-1991 and from 1992-2001. In 1998, Bauer was chairman of the International Lacrosse Federation World Championship held at Homewood Field in Baltimore. In 2002, Bauer received both a Tewaaraton Trophy Distinguished Service Award and the Frenchy Julien Service Award for his longtime dedication to the sport of lacrosse.

Bauer is a businessman and restaurateur in Baltimore, Maryland. He created the concept for, owned and operated the historic Mt. Washington Tavern from 1979 until he sold it in 2007. Building on this success, he created and developed The Oregon Grille in Hunt Valley, Maryland in 1997 and later purchased and restored the historic property of The Valley Inn. Bauer also created and owns the popular roadhouse The Butler Cabin in Baltimore County, Maryland. In December 2021, after 46 years in the restaurant business, he sold The Valley Inn and the majority interest of The Oregon Grille to the Atlas Restaurant Group.

In his community, Bauer has served on the board of trustees for the Gilchrist Center, board of trustees and executive board for Living Classrooms, board of trustees for The Boys’ Latin School in Maryland, board of trustees for the Center for Environment & Society at Washington College, and the board of trustees for the Charles T. Bauer Charitable Foundation through which Bauer spearheaded the dedication of the playing surface on Wilson Field to his teammate Robert F. Lindsey ’76. Since 2009, Bauer has worked in conjunction with Johns Hopkins Hospital in establishing the James Wah Fund, which works with individuals suffering from mood disorder and depression. He has served as a W&L chapter volunteer and area campaign committee member for Baltimore.

Bauer resides in Baltimore County with his wife, Kristin, and their son, Brock.

Mr. James ‘Jim’ Farrar ’74

Jim Farrar, a 1974 graduate of W&L, returned to Lexington in 1986 as the university’s assistant alumni director. He became director of alumni programs and executive secretary of the W&L Alumni Association in 1990. He served in that position until being named secretary of the university and associate director of development in 1999, managing the operations of the Board of Trustees and serving as a member of the university’s major gift fundraising team.

In 2002, Farrar relinquished his fundraising responsibilities to become senior assistant to acting president Laurent C. Boetsch ’69 while continuing his duties as secretary of the university. He has since served under four rectors and five presidents and was named senior adviser to President William Dudley in 2018. A member of the football and lacrosse teams as a student at W&L, Farrar was co-captain of the 1974 lacrosse team and was named to the All-America Lacrosse team that same year. He was inducted into the W&L Athletics Hall of Fame as an individual in 2006, in 2019 as part of the 1973 Men’s Lacrosse Team and in 2023 as part of the 1974 Men’s Lacrosse Team. While employed at W&L, he served as a member of the Athletics Hall of Fame Selection Committee and chair of W&L’s Community Grants Committee, and represented W&L on the Lexington Police Department Foundation Advisory Board.

While on campus, Farrar was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history, he served as a teacher, coach, and director of admissions at The Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Virginia from 1974-1986.

Outside of W&L, Farrar has been active in the local community, having served as a vestry member and senior warden of Grace Episcopal Church, a member of SunTrust Bank’s Augusta/Rockbridge Advisory Board, coach and board member of Lexington Lacrosse, a member of the board of directors of Lexington Golf and Country Club, a member of the Rockbridge County Unit of the American Cancer Society, and a volunteer youth coach in the Rockbridge Area Recreation Organization.

Farrar, a Doremus Society member and honorary ODK member, has served on six reunion committees, including his current 50th Reunion Committee, and will receive the Distinguished Alumnus Award at his 50th reunion in May 2024. He has also served 10 years as an Annual Fund class agent and is currently a volunteer coach for the W&L Women’s Lacrosse team.

Farrar’s family spans multiple generations at Washington and Lee. His grandfather, James M. Farrar, was a member of the Class of 1914; his father, former Dean of Admissions James D. Farrar, was Class of 1949; his brother Scott Farrar was Class of 1976; and his brother-in-law Brice Williams was Class of 1978. Farrar and his wife, Kitty, have three children, Bois, Lyle and Katharine. Katharine is a 2011 graduate of W&L.

Mr. William ‘Bill’ Wallace ’74, ’77L

In 1974, Bill Wallace graduated with his Bachelor of Arts in politics, cum laude, from Washington and Lee, and he received his law degree in 1977, also from W&L.

As an undergraduate, Wallace was a member of ODK and Sigma Society, and one of the charter members of the Outing Club. He was a member of the track team and a four-year letterwinner, captain and first-team all-conference selection as a defensive back in football. He was also an NCAA postgraduate scholar.

In 2020, Wallace retired as managing partner from the Roanoke firm of Johnson, Ayers and Matthews, where his practice focused on civil trials. For 15 years, he taught trial advocacy as an adjunct professor of law at the W&L School of Law. Wallace was a member of the Ted Dalton American Inn of Court, and served a term as its president. He was also a board member of the Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys and national counsel for ODK. Wallace was consistently named to “The Best Lawyers in America” and “Virginia Super Lawyers, Civil Litigation Defense,” and was inducted as a fellow into the American College of Trial Lawyers, which is recognized as the highest professional honor for a trial lawyer.

He has also served as a longtime trustee at South Roanoke United Methodist Church.

Wallace has a remarkable record of dedicated service as an alumnus of Washington and Lee. He has served on three reunion committees, twice as chair, including his upcoming 50th Reunion Committee. He was also a member and president of the Alumni Board, chair of the Annual Fund and class agent for his undergraduate and law classes. Wallace also served as a SPEAK volunteer and was a member of the Alumni Greek Council and University Athletics Committee.

Wallace and his wife, Janie, have three children, all of whom attended Washington and Lee: Paul, Class of 2002; Matt, Class of 2006; and Emily, Class of 2009.

Mr. Thomas ‘T.’ Blair ’99

Thomas Blair, better known as “T.,” earned a Bachelor of Arts in both economics and European history in 1999. As a student, he served as a member of Kathekon, the Senior Gift Committee and the Beta Theta Pi fraternity.

Following graduation, Blair started his career in commodity trading at Goldman Sachs. While at Goldman, he was a member of the New York Mercantile Exchange. He also earned his MBA in finance from the NYU Stern School of Business. Following his time at Goldman Sachs, Blair spent five years at Barclays Capital culminating in him running the commodity institutional sales team across the Americas and Europe.

Blair joined Bank of America in 2011 as a managing director in the commodity division. He is currently the global head of commodity sales and structured origination at Bank of America. In this role, Blair is responsible for delivering commodity solutions to institutional accounts including pensions, endowments, financial sponsors, asset managers and hedge funds, as well as corporate clients across the metals, oil and gas, power, transportation, industrial and renewable sectors. In addition to this role, Blair serves as co-head of investible indices distribution across global markets, where he is responsible for delivering quantitative investment strategies to the bank’s institutional clients.

Blair is a member of both the global commodities and the global FICC sales leadership teams. He is a senior supporter of Bank of America’s Women’s Leadership Council, is actively involved in its veterans program and is a board member of Merrill Lynch Commodities Inc.

As a proud General, Blair has volunteered in numerous capacities for W&L over the years. He has served as a reunion co-chair numerous times, including this year’s 25th Reunion Committee and his 10th Reunion Committee, which was W&L’s first Young Alumni Weekend. Blair served as New York City Alumni Chapter president and vice-president, as well as its Alumni Admissions Program chair. He previously served on the Alumni Board and as a SPEAK Initiative volunteer. Currently, Blair is a member of the Williams School Advisory Board.

Blair and his wife, Tasha ’00, currently reside in Darien, Connecticut, where they are raising two sons, Lachlan and Sawyer.

Mrs. Elizabeth Richey Thompson ’99

Elizabeth (Richey) Thompson graduated cum laude from W&L in 1999, with a double major in journalism and mass communications and French, and a minor in studio art. During her tenure at W&L, she was co-captain of the women’s varsity soccer team, studied abroad in Martinique, wrote for the Trident and was a member of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.

After graduation, she worked in advertising and strategic planning in New York for several years before pursuing a career in architecture. She attended Parsons School of Design for a one-year pre-architecture program and then earned a Master of Architecture degree from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design (GSD) in 2007. At the GSD, she earned distinctive honors for several of her studio projects, published in their annual Studio Works journal that displays the school’s top design work. She also interned for leading architecture firms, including the Office of Peter Rose in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Pichler & Traupmann in Vienna.

After graduating from the GSD, she moved to Denver where she worked for the architecture firm AR7 Architects, and taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Colorado in their Master of Architecture degree program. In 2010, Thompson launched her own architecture and design firm, Etch Design, focused on residential and small commercial design. She also runs a family forestry business, Cherry Mountain Farms, in North Carolina, with her brother.

Thompson has been a dedicated and supportive alumna for the past 25 years. She served as the Denver Alumni Chapter president from 2007 to 2010, and then as a member of the Alumni Board from 2013 to 2017. Additionally, she has volunteered for the SPEAK Initiative, hosted alumni events, conducted interviews for the Alumni Admissions Program and served as a reunion committee member. She also volunteers her time and energy in her local Denver community. She coached youth soccer, serves on the Denver Botanic Gardens Fête des Fleurs fundraising committee, and cooks dinners for the Women’s Homeless Initiative, the sole women-only homeless shelter in Denver, run entirely by volunteers.

Thompson, her husband, Bennett ’00, and their two children reside in Colorado.

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