Two Washington University in St. Louis leaders — Chancellor Emeritus William H. Danforth and Henry S. Webber, executive vice chancellor for administration — were recognized at the 105th Anniversary Celebration and Annual Freedom Fund Dinner of the St. Louis City NAACP on Oct. 13.
Danforth received the Margaret Bush Wilson Lifetime Achievement Award for his leadership at Washington University and the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, his service to many charitable boards, including the St. Louis Christmas Carols Association and the NAACP executive committee, and his work with civil rights attorney Frankie Muse Freeman to oversee the settlement of the area’s school desegregation case.
Webber received the Frankie Muse Freeman/Norman R. Seay Commitment to St. Louis Award for his work to revitalize the neighborhoods surrounding the university and to expand educational opportunities for St. Louis children. Webber also has increased university diversity and inclusion through hiring and minority procurement and contracting. In his leadership roles at Cortex Innovation Community, Washington University Medical Center Redevelopment Corp. and InvestSTL, Webber has worked to stabilize neighborhoods and to increase affordable housing.