An ILR Night

Surrounded by family and hundreds of ILR alumni, students, faculty and staff, Eva Sage-Gavin '80 and Tracy Dolgin '81 accepted the school’s top awards Thursday.  

"What brings us all here is Big Red," said Sage-Gavin as she accepted the Groat Award in New York City at The Pierre.

Executive vice president of Gap Inc., she credited her extended family of work colleagues and ILR and Cornell mentors and friends with building a life that blossomed when she received a scholarship to ILR in 1977.

"You can't succeed alone," she said. "I can never give back enough."

Dolgin, president and CEO of the YES Network, accepted the Alpern Award with praise for people such as Professor David Lipsky, who pushed him to share his potential with the world.

Dolgin recalled Lipsky telling him how disappointed he was with Dolgin's ILR performance. "He said, 'You never lived up to your potential. You could have been a contender.'"

Those 1981 remarks turned his future, Dolgin said, thanking his mother, Florence, and others who have stood by him.

"You taught me how to make a difference," he said.