People and Happenings
Patricia Jacoby
People and Happenings
Board of Trustees News
Mount Auburn Cemetery is pleased to announce the appointment of Patricia Jacoby , Deputy Director Emerita of Boston ’ s Museum of Fine Arts , as the new Chair of the Board of Trustees . Pat joined Mount Auburn ’ s Council of Visitors in 2011 and became a Trustee in 2012 . She has been active on numerous committees . A 19-year veteran of the MFA , she was in charge of the Museum ’ s external relations including governance and development . During her final decade Pat was responsible for construction oversight of the new Art of the Americas Wing and the concurrent ambitious fundraising effort that raised $ 504 million . Prior to the MFA , Pat held positions at Wheaton College , Harvard School of Public Health , Amherst College and WGBY-TV . An alumna of Connecticut College , she serves on the Board of White Oak Cottages at Fox Hill Village in Westwood and is a member of Cambridge Center for Adult Education ’ s Board of Visitors .
Pat took over this leadership position from Thomas C . Cooper at the December 2017 Trustees meeting . Tom had served as Chair for the past four years , and we are grateful for his dedication and commitment to Mount Auburn and glad that he will continue to serve on the Board . We are also pleased to welcome four new members to the Board , as the following individuals were all elected in September 2017 :
Robert Airasian is a broker with Coldwell Banker . He is a board member at the Watertown Community Foundation , trustee at the Watertown Savings Bank , and board member and past president ( 2011-2013 ) at the Watertown-Belmont Chamber of Commerce . He received a B . S . in Finance from Boston College ’ s Carroll School of Management .
Dean T . Hara ’ s background includes human resources management , small business consulting and government relations in Washington , DC . He recently retired as a financial advisor in Boston doing investment planning and advisor oversight . Dean ’ s late husband was Congressman Gerry E . Studds , the first openly gay member of Congress . He is a member of the Boston Foundation Equality Fund , the Fenway Health Board of Visitors , and board of the Boston Center for Adult Education ( BCAE ).
Above : Robert Airasian ( left ) and Dean Hara ( right ) Below : Susan E . Mead ( left ) and Philip L . Laird ( right )
Philip L . Laird is the President of ARC / Architectural Resources Cambridge . He was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects in 2017 . Philip is a former trustee and Chair of the Grounds and Building Committee of St . Paul School , which he attended . He is also a member of the Boston Chamber of Commerce and a Corporate Trustee and former Advisory Council Member of the Trustees of Reservations . He is a former member of the Shady Hill School Building and Grounds Committee . He attended the University of Colorado .
Susan Eldredge Mead is a Reference Specialist at Isaacson , Miller Executive Search . She holds an M . A . from Boston University and an M . P . A . from Harvard Kennedy School of Government . She has served as Executive Director of World Learning ’ s intensive English language program in Boston . She currently serves as the head of the Board of Visitors at Cambridge Center for Adult Education . She is a board member of the Cambridge Club and a trustee of the Elizabeth Taber Library in Marion , MA .
Mount Auburn Cemetery and the Friends of Mount Auburn are grateful to the new and current members of the Trustees who volunteer their time and expertise to further the mission , vision , and values of the institution to the highest standards .
2018 Volume 1 | 25