Pyrotechnics put a fitting finish on an evening that brought 800 friends of Johns Hopkins together to celebrate the Decker Quadrangle, Mason Hall and the Computational Science and Engineering Building. A tent, left, housed guests for dinner. Photo by Matthew D'Agostino

Dedication marks the completion of major construction project

By Nora Koch
Development and Alumni Relations

More than 800 students, faculty, alumni and friends attended a dinner on Oct. 27 to dedicate the Alonzo G. and Virginia G. Decker Quadrangle, Mason Hall and the Computational Science and Engineering Building, and to salute former chair of the university board of trustees Raymond A. "Chip" Mason.

The black-tie gala, a highlight of the university's Leadership Weekend, marked the formal naming of the quad and of Mason Hall.

Guests — including Virginia Decker and Chip and Rand Mason, for whom the quad and the new admissions and visitor center are named — entered through Mason Hall, just as all visitors and prospective students are now introduced to the university's Homewood campus.

"For more than 90 years, Johns Hopkins has had an address on Charles Street," said university President William R. Brody. "But we haven't had a front door. Tonight, we've changed that."

Sen. Benjamin Cardin and Myrna Cardin Photo by Jay Van Rensselaer, Will Kirk and Norman Barker

Before the dinner program, students offered tours of Mason Hall and the Computational Science and Engineering Building. The night concluded with Chip Mason flipping a switch to set off a dramatic, two-minute pyrotechnics and light show.

Mason Hall was made possible by a gift from Chip Mason, chairman, president and CEO of Legg Mason, and his wife, Rand. Mason has been a university trustee since 1987 and this year completed a six-year term as chair of the board of trustees. He is also a trustee of Johns Hopkins Medicine.

"At every step along the way, Chip has been accessible, judicious and fair-minded to all," Brody said. "He has never failed to bring great insight and intelligence to bear on every challenge, and he has never lost his great sense of humor."

Virginia Decker is the wife of the late Alonzo Decker Jr., the longtime chairman and CEO of Black & Decker and former university trustee, who died in 2002. She served on the advisory board of the School of Continuing Studies (now the Carey Business School and the School of Education) and remains active in university life. In addition to decades of service, the couple provided funding for construction of the quadrangle with a bequest of the couple's home and farm on the Sassafras River on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

The event also served to honor engineering alumnus Willard Hackerman, president of Whiting- Turner, the construction engineering company that built the project; and trustee Wally Pinkard, whose grandfather, Robert Merrick, is the namesake for the gates flanking the entrance that now leads to Mason Hall.

Also honored were engineering alumnus Richard Swirnow and his wife, Rae, who, on behalf of their children and the Swirnow Charitable Foundation, a supporting foundation of the Associated Jewish Charities, made a commitment of $1 million to support the Whiting School, including the mock operating room in the Computational Science and Engineering Building.

Mary Costa, Virginia Decker and Laura Paulsen Photo by Jay Van Rensselaer, Will Kirk and Norman Barker

Willard and Lillian Hackerman Photo by Jay Van Rensselaer, Will Kirk and Norman Barker

William P. Carey, Art Sarnoff and Kristina Johnson Photo by Jay Van Rensselaer, Will Kirk and Norman Barker

Rand and Chip Mason Photo by Jay Van Rensselaer, Will Kirk and Norman Barker

Rae and Richard Swirnow Photo by Jay Van Rensselaer, Will Kirk and Norman Barker

Pamela Flaherty Photo by Jay Van Rensselaer, Will Kirk and Norman Barker

Wally Pinkard and Christina Mattin Photo by Jay Van Rensselaer, Will Kirk and Norman Barker

William Brody, Richard Himmelfarb and Michael Klag Photo by Jay Van Rensselaer, Will Kirk and Norman Barker

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