Williams Awarded First 'Golden Heart'

Heart of gold: Emory Williams 32C, former vice president and chief financial officer of Sears Roebuck and Company and later chair and chief executive officer of the Sears Bank and Trust Company, received the 2011 Judson C. "Jake" Ward Golden Heart award on May 8 for longtime service to Emory and the community.

Tom Brodnax 65Ox 68C

Perhaps it was destiny, given his first name, but Emory Williams 32C has remained closely involved with his alma mater since his graduation nearly eight decades ago.

He created the Emory Williams Teaching Award, the highest award for teaching at the University, and is still an active Emeritus Trustee. He previously served as a member of the University’s Board of Visitors, a class agent, and president of the Chicago chapter of the Emory Alumni Association.

Williams received the 2011 Judson C. “Jake” Ward Golden Heart Award on May 8 in a ceremony at the Miller-Ward Alumni House. Emory Alumni Board president Bill Brosius 85B and Candler Professor of Anthropology and Interdisciplinary Studies and former College Dean Robert Paul were on hand to induct Williams into Corpus Cordis Aureum and present him with the award, which was established in 2010 to honor the late Judson C. “Jake” Ward 33C 36G, former dean of alumni and charter member of Corpus Cordis Aureum, the Golden Corps of the Heart. 

Selection criteria include longtime service to one’s community and to Emory, exceptional yet humble contributions of time and service to Emory, and a generosity of spirit, all traits embodied by Ward. During the Commencement ceremony, Williams led the golden-robed Corpus Cordis group onto the Quad as a member of the earliest class represented.