Virginia Historical Society
At the first Virginia Historical Society (VHS) board meeting of the year, President and CEO Dr. Paul A. Levengood welcomed four new trustees who will serve from 2010 to 2015. Anna Logan Lawson, George F. Albright, Jr., E. Claiborne Robins, Jr., and Harry F. Byrd, III, join the society’s board, made up of twenty-four trustees. Josiah P. Rowe, III, joined the society’s board in September 2009, filling the unexpired term of his late wife, Anne.
In 2010, W. Taylor Reveley, III, president of the College of William and Mary, will serve as chairman of the VHS board, and Thomas G. Slater, Jr., Partner and Group Head Litigation, Intellectual Property, and Labor Group at Hunton & Williams LLP, will serve as vice chairman.
“As the Virginia Historical Society demonstrates its resolve to broaden audiences, we continue to reach out to those community leaders who can provide not only expertise in management and fundraising but also give us special insight into the needs and concerns of citizens from across the commonwealth,” Levengood said. “I am truly honored to have this group of distinguished individuals working with us to make sure the VHS achieves its full potential.”
Harry F. Byrd, III, of Berryville is a graduate of the University of Virginia. Between 1970 and 2003, he ran one of Virginia’s most significant apple businesses, with orchards in Clarke County. He is president of Senseny South Corporation. Byrd currently serves as chairman of the board of the Winchester Medical Center and serves on the board of Rockingham Publishing Co., Valley Health System, and Hawthorn Associates, LLC. Byrd will serve on the collections and conservation and publications and education committees of the society’s board.
Anna Logan Lawson, a resident of Botetourt County, is a trustee and immediate past chair of the Virginia Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, a board member of the Virginia Environmental Endowment and the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation, and a recent trustee of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Rice Center. In 2008, Lawson was named to an advisory group of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. In the 1970s and 1980s, Lawson was a writer and editor of publications at Hollins University and for the Kettering Foundation in Dayton, Ohio, and in 1994 she was a founding director of the Roanoke-based ValleyBank, where she currently heads the board’s Human Resources Committee. In addition, she has served as a trustee of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, Hollins University, and Total Action Against Poverty. Lawson will serve on the publications and education and nominating committees of the society’s board.
George F. Albright, Jr., is a Wealth Advisor and the Virginia Business Head for the J.P. Morgan Private Bank. Before joining J.P. Morgan, he practiced law and was listed in Best Lawyers in America while in private practice. Albright is a Fellow of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel and is a past Chairman of both the Virginia State Bar Trusts and Estates Section and The Fairfax Bar Association Wills, Trusts and Estates Section. He is coauthor of Estate Planning in Virginia and in 2009 was named one of the top wealth advisors in the D.C. metro area by Washingtonian Magazine. Albright serves as a trustee of the Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges, is a past chairman of the board of directors of the Northern Virginia Community Foundation, and has served as a director on the boards of the Maymont Foundation and the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce. Albright, who lives in Arlington, will serve on the nominating and development committees of the board.
E. Claiborne Robins, Jr., of Richmond served on the VHS board from 1993 to 1998 and from 2000 to 2008. During that time, he served as board chairman from 2005 to 2007. Robins served as president and CEO of A.H. Robins from 1978 to 89 and president and CEO of E.C. Robins International Inc. from 1990 to the present. Robins was a longtime member of the board of the University of Richmond—his alma mater—and has supported the Richmond SPCA, the Maymont Foundation, and the Virginia State Golf Association Foundation. In addition, he has for many years been a director of the Robins Foundation, one of the most active private foundations in Central Virginia. In 2003, Robins was named Philanthropist of the Year by the Central Virginia Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, and in 2009 he was given the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame Distinguished Virginian Award. Robins will chair the nominating committee and will serve on the executive and governance committee of the VHS board.
Josiah P. Rowe, III, of Fredericksburg was named copublisher and general manager of The Free Lance-Star in 1949. In 1998, Rowe became publisher of the newspaper, a position that he still holds today. As mayor of Fredericksburg from 1964 to 1972, Rowe followed in the footsteps of his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. Rowe served as president of the Virginia Press Association, was chairman of the board of the Presbyterian School of Christian Education, and was on the boards of the C&P Telephone Co. of Virginia and First Virginia Banks. Rowe serves on the collections and conservation and buildings and grounds committees of the society’s board.
Byrd, Albright, Robins, and Lawson replace the following trustees whose terms ended in 2009: John B. Adams, Jr., Herbert A. Claiborne, Jr., Helen Turner Murphy, and Grady W. Powell. J. Stewart Bryan, III, rotated off as chairman but will continue to serve on the VHS board through the end of 2010.
“It is the close relationship with past and current trustees that contributes to the sustainability of this organization,” Levengood added. “With the board’s guidance, the Virginia Historical Society is poised to face the challenges ahead from a position of strength.”
For more than 178 years, the Virginia Historical Society (VHS) has been the steward of our state — and often national — history. Headquartered in Richmond, the VHS features award-winning exhibitions that are entertaining and educational for visitors of all ages. Although designated the Official State Historical Society, the VHS is a privately funded non-profit organization that relies on contributions from individuals, corporations, and foundations to sustain its operations.
Hours: Tuesday–Saturday 10 a.m.–5 p.m. and Sunday 1 p.m.–5 p.m. (shop and museum galleries only). Admission is free. For group tour information, call (804) 342-9652. For more information, call (804) 358-4901 or visit www.vahistorical.org.
