Mary and Tom Stillman are the recipients of the 2024 Jane and Whitney Harris St. Louis Community Service Award. They were recognized during a June 5 luncheon at the Whittemore House.
Chancellor Andrew D. Martin presented the Stillmans with the award. Mary McKay, vice provost for interdisciplinary initiatives at Washington University in St. Louis, hosted the event.
The Harris Award committee selects a couple to receive the annual award, which was established in 2000 in honor of the late Jane and Whitney Harris to recognize couples who contribute to the betterment of the greater St. Louis community.
“Mary and Tom are deeply committed to giving back to our community through their leadership, counsel and generosity,” said Judy Kent, chair of the Harris Award committee and 2021 Harris Award honoree. “We are so pleased to honor them for their shared dedication to St. Louis, and for the work they do to strengthen our city for all those who call it home.”
About Mary Stillman
Mary Stillman has maintained a strong connection to WashU for several years.
In 2014, she founded the Hawthorn Leadership School for Girls, the St. Louis region’s first all-girls charter school. She served as the executive director of the school for several years as well as leading the Hawthorn Leadership School Foundation, raising community awareness and funds to support the school. WashU served as the institutional sponsor for the charter school until it closed in 2023.
Stillman also worked at WashU as an assistant dean of first-year programming and taught a first-year seminar on the Bill of Rights. She also served as a member of the Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement’s National Council. More recently, she piloted a program for first-year law students and worked with the Institute for School Partnership.
She currently serves on the Brown School’s National Council, the advisory council for the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics and as a university trustee.
Stillman has served as a board member for several local organizations, including the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, the St. Louis Community Foundation and december literary magazine.
The St. Louis native earned degrees from Princeton University and Yale Law School. She practiced law for several years in Washington, D.C., prior to working at WashU.
About Tom Stillman
Tom Stillman serves as chairman and governor of the St. Louis Blues. He is the former chairman and CEO of Summit Distributing, a St. Louis-based beer distributor. Stillman serves on the boards of Blues for Kids, Commerce Bank St. Louis Region and the St. Louis Sports Commission.
He served as a lawyer at the New York-based law firm Dewey, Ballantine, Bushby, Palmer and Wood from 1978-1988; and at the U.S. Department of Commerce in Washington from 1988-1993. A native of Minneapolis, Stillman earned degrees from Middlebury College and the University of Minnesota Law School.
Together, the couple have three children, John (Rosie), Isabelle (Daniel) and Anna.
Harris Award recipients are honored with a cash gift made in their name to a St. Louis-area charitable organization of their choice. The Stillmans’ award will support the American Youth Foundation, a nonprofit youth development organization that provides year-round community and school programs, summer camps and leadership conferences to young people.
For more information on the award and how to submit a nomination, email harrisaward@wustl.edu.
