Bestowing the Highest Honor The Washington Award acknowledges those individuals who have exemplified profound philanthropy to Washington and Lee University and greater service to the nation.

Laura Lemon
March 18, 2025

Given only seven times since its creation, the Washington Award acknowledges those individuals who have exemplified profound philanthropy to Washington and Lee University and greater service to the nation. Approved by the Board of Trustees on Feb. 10, 2001, the award was established as the university’s highest accolade.

Recipients receive a small copy of an 1826 sculpture of George Washington made by British sculptor Sir Francis Chantrey for the Massachusetts State House. A Parian statue of Chantrey’s sculpture resides in the Reeves Center on W&L’s campus, likely created from the original’s plaster model after the artist’s death in 1841. W&L purchased 19 of these figures to be presented to Washington Award winners.

Rupert Johnson Jr. ’62 and Maryellie Johnson
August 2007

Rupert Johnson served as vice chairman of Franklin Resources Inc., a global investment management organization. In 2007, he and his wife, Maryellie, donated $100 million to W&L for scholarships and leadership programs from which the university launched the Johnson Scholarship Program, established two professorships — one for the college and one for the Williams School — a lecture series and the Johnson Opportunity Grants.

Gerry Lenfest ’53 and Marguerite Lenfest
February 2008

After selling his cable company to Comcast, Gerry Lenfest and his wife, Marguerite, created the Lenfest Foundation, which distributed more than $1.2 billion to charitable causes. He served on the W&L Board of Trustees from 1989–1998 and donated $3 million to what became the Lenfest Center for Performing Arts and later gave $50 million to faculty salaries, sabbaticals and faculty scholarship and research. With Emeritus Trustee Houston H. Harte ’50, he made a challenge grant in 1994 toward the completion of the $127 million capital campaign.

Sen. John W. Warner ’49
May 2009

John Warner served five terms in the U.S. Senate, retiring as the second-longest serving senator from Virginia. He gave back to W&L by serving on the Board of Trustees from 1968–1980, supporting scholarships for transfer students — specifically for minorities — and the Library Building Fund, endowing the John W. Warner Public Service Award and donating his law library.

Roger H. Mudd ’50
May 2011

Roger Mudd’s distinguished career as a journalist earned him a Peabody Award, the Joan Shorenstein Barone Award for Distinguished Washington Reporting and five Emmys. He was a visiting professor of W&L from 1992–1996 and donated his Mudd papers and a collection of first-edition books. In 2011, he gave $4 million to establish the Roger Mudd Center for Study of Professional Ethics and the Roger Mudd Professorship in Ethics.

Richard “Dick” Duchossois ’44
February 2015

Dick Duchossois chaired The Duchossois Group, a private investment firm, after turning Thrall Car Manufacturing into the second-largest rail freight car builder. Duchossois supported the creation of many of W&L’s athletic spaces, such as the Duchossois Tennis Center, the 2008 Wilson Field renovation and the 2020 Warner Center and Doremus Gymnasium renovation, which is now the Richard L. Duchossois Athletic and Recreation Center.

Letitia Pate Whitehead Evans
May 2024

When Letitia Pate Whitehead Evans died in 1953, her estate created the Lettie Pate Whitehead Foundation, a public charity that, among other missions, provides significant scholarship support to female students. Before her death, she had directed the Lettie Pate Evans Foundation to give W&L 15% of its annual income, with the cumulative distribution making her the most generous benefactor in university history.

Bill Miller ’72
October 2024

Bill Miller founded Miller Value Partners LLC in 2018, serving as chairman and chief investment officer before he retired from MVP in 2023. Prior to that, he co-founded Legg Mason Capital Management and served as portfolio manager, then sole manager, of the Legg Mason Value Trust. Miller’s historic gift of $132 million to W&L — the largest single donation in the university’s history — was one of the biggest gifts dedicated to financial aid at any private liberal arts college and allowed W&L to implement a need-blind admissions policy.