Thomas S. “Tom” Kenan, III of Chapel Hill, North Carolina visited campus Nov. 8 and addressed a gathering of community guests, faculty and honors students. A native of Durham, NC and a 1959 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Kenan has devoted the better part of five decades to leading art, preservation and educational efforts in his home state and across the nation.
Kenan showed slides from his personal collection and discussed preservation work at two historic properties that are also closely related to his extended family: Liberty Hall (1830) in Kenansville, NC and Whitehall (1901) in Palm Beach, FL.
Prior to his talk, Kenan met with President Lambert and discussed the University’s Honors Program. This was Mr. Kenan’s first visit to campus since April 2004. Generous gifts from the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust in 2003 and 2004 established an endowment in the Trust’s name to support the scholarship of one honors student in each class year at Elon. The William R. Kenan, Jr. Pavilion in the Academic Village is named in memory of the Trust’s founder, William R. Kenan, Jr. (1872 – 1965), Tom Kenan’s great uncle. The second floor Reading Alcove, immediately above the main entrance to Belk Library, is named in memory of Kenan’s father, Frank Hawkins Kenan (1912 – 1996), a noted philanthropist, businessman, and civic leader of Durham, NC.
Kenan served as Chairman of Kenan Transport from 1968 until the company’s sale in 2001. He currently heads Kenan Management Company and is an officer and director of The Westfield Co. in Durham and Flagler System Inc. in Florida.
In addition to his extensive business activities, Kenan is active with a number of civic and philanthropic organizations, including the Kenan Family Foundation; William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust; William R. Kenan Jr. Fund; William R. Kenan Jr. Fund for the Arts; William R. Kenan Jr. Fund for Engineering, Technology and Science; William R. Kenan Jr. Fund for Ethics; Randleigh Foundation Trusts; The Mary Duke Biddle Foundation; Duke Endowment; and the Thomas S. Kenan II Foundation. He is active with his alma mater, UNC-Chapel Hill, where he serves on the Kenan-Flagler Business School Board of Visitors, the Arts and Sciences Foundation Board, the Institute of the Arts and Humanities advisory board, and committees of the Ackland Art Museum.
Kenan’s honors include the North Carolina Award for Public Service; the Morrison Award (for support and leadership in the state’s cultural advancement); the Albert Schweitzer Medal for Artistry; and distinguished alumni awards from UNC-CH, Durham Academy and Woodberry Forest School.