Founders Award
The Founders Award is Cranbrook’s highest honor and acknowledges the contributions of individuals who have been affiliated with Cranbrook and who exemplify the values and vision of its founders, George and Ellen Booth. Since its founding in 1955, the award has been bestowed 56 times.
Past Recipients include:
1955 Carl Milles, Eliel Saarinen, Michael Vettraino
1956 Samuel S. Marquis
1958 Cecil Billington (posthumously), Lee A. White
1960 Sanford A. Allen, Jessie T. Winter
1961 Margaret A. Augur
1962 The Reverend Robert L. DeWitt, Dr. Robert R. McMath
1964 William S. Casey, Maija Grotell, Dr. Robert T. Hatt
1965 Lillian Holm, Josephine Waldo, Carl G. Wonnberger
1966 Henry S. Booth
1967 Arthur B. Wittliff
1968 Walter P. Nickell
1969 Neil C. McMath, William Schultz, Jr.
1973 Robert E. Bates, James A. Beresford, Bruce N. Coulter
1976 Templin R. Licklider, Kathryn M. Myers
1981 Pearl Peterson, Richard Thomas, Dominick Vettraino
1982 John W. Blanchard (posthumously), Edward Lerchen
1983 Florence Booth Beresford
1984 Ernest A. Jones, Betty Odle, Margaret Spencer
1985 Ben M. Snyder, III
1987 Edward H. Perkins, Jr.
1988 Robert K. Hoffman
1989 Alice Silberstein Burnes, Florence Knoll Bassett
1990 Dr. Joel E. Cohen, William T. Gossett
1991 Marshall Fredericks, Annetta Wonnberger
1992 Jack Lenor Larsen, Robert J. Vlasic
1993 Mary D. Fisher, The Honorable Alan K. Simpson
1994 Roy Slade
1995 Marianne Strengell Hammarstrom, Alan E. Schwartz
1996 Virginia Beresford Fox, Peter M. Dawkins
2007 James A. Williams (posthumously)
2014 Dr. Lillian Bauder
2020 Patricia Chase and E. Jan Hartmann (posthumously),
R. Jamison Williams, Jr., Tod Williams
On April 17, 2014, Cranbrook President Emeritus Dr. Lillian Bauder was given the Founders Award at a reception at Kingswood School. Dr. Bauder came to Cranbrook in February 1983 and was named its fourth President and Chief Executive Officer in October 1984. She served as President until October 1996.
