Gordon Sewall, Assistant Head for Development and Alumni Relations, 1996–2014

Posted on Nov 6, 2014

Gordon Sewall, Assistant Head for Development and Alumni Relations, 1996–2014

Gordon Sewall, Assistant Head for Development and Alumni Relations, 1996–2014

For 18 years, Gordon has been an institutional leader who helped Milton come alive for donors. He has been a teammate who put his shoulder to the common wheel, a problem solver, a can-do person.

With donors, Gordon was as passionate as he was honest about Milton. That’s a perfect combination if your job is to build authentic relationships and keep them lively. Perhaps that is why he was such a successful fund raiser. He led Milton’s first comprehensive capital campaign. The goal was $50 million — a major stretch for Milton in the ’90s — and he raised $60 million. Overall, Milton donors gave nearly $194 million to the School during Gordon’s years.

Gordon partnered with four heads of school: Ed Fredie, Robin Robertson, Rick Hardy and Todd Bland. That gave him plentiful opportunities to model some core Milton competencies: creativity, flexibility, and resilience. Gordon dependably adapted and stayed centered. He embraced the situation at hand; he emanated optimism, and his optimism was contagious.

Under Gordon’s leadership, Milton evolved Reunion Weekend from a paper-plate, rubber-chicken, heavy-on-the-microphone day to an attractive, multi-level weekend that draws hundreds of alumni to activities geared for them, no matter their ages or interests.

Gordon and his team made Milton’s campus transformation possible. We celebrated together the dedications of the Athletic and Convocation Center, including the Fitzgibbons Center; a fully renovated Wigglesworth and Warren halls; the Schwarz Student Center; Norris House and Millet House; and the Pritzker Science Center.

Because of Gordon’s stewarding, many of Milton’s families with deep roots are now closer to the School, and understand how their Milton and today’s Milton form a single treasure.

Gordon was a superb advisor-at-large. Always engaged, ready to help with any issue, he invariably contributed wise and balanced perspectives, always with humor. He’s a schoolman: a great listener, respectful, resourceful, and willing to put in his oar. And despite the overwhelming challenge of his wife Elizabeth’s illness and death, Gordon did not falter in his dedication to the School.

We all have a great and kind friend in Gordon. We hope he leaves his official duties at Milton as a proud father of graduates Scott ’10 and Duncan ’13, and with the rich gratification of having moved a living institution forward.

by Cathy Everett
Chief Communication Officer