Dick’s credits include several hit television shows, including “Lost,” “House,” “The Good Wife,” and the new Apple TV+ series “Truth Be Told.”
Elon parent Leonard Dick, an Emmy Award-winning television writer and producer who has written for several groundbreaking series, including “Lost,” “House” and “The Good Wife,” will deliver the undergraduate commencement address to the Class of 2020. Elon’s 130th commencement ceremony is scheduled for 8:45 a.m. on Friday, May 22, on Scott Plaza in front of the Alamance Building.
Dick is a native of Toronto who began his Hollywood career as a finance executive at Walt Disney Studios after graduating from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree and later an MBA. He then shed his suits and ties to pursue a career as a television writer.
Dick has written for a variety of genres – sitcom, drama, sketch-comedy, animation – and in 2005 he won an Emmy for Best Drama as part of the producing and writing team of the hit ABC drama “Lost.” He has been nominated for an Emmy as a producer in the Best Drama category five times and was also nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for an episode of “House” he co-wrote.
Dick has developed and written pilots for ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and Bravo. More recently he has shifted into the world of streaming, serving as a writer and executive producer on the Apple TV+ drama series “Truth Be Told” starring Octavia Spencer and Aaron Paul. He is currently a writer and Executive Producer on the new HBO Max drama series “Crime Farm.”
Dick and his wife, Lisa, have been dedicated supporters of the university during the time their daughter, Julia, has been a student at Elon. In 2019 the couple, along with Elon grandparents Richard and Marcia Schulman, provided a gift to establish the Dick/Schulman Hillel Engagement Intern Scholarship. The gift is in recognition of the impact that a Hillel engagement intern had on Julia, a member of the Class of 2020 who has assisted other students as a Hillel engagement intern while at Elon. The couple has also contributed to the Sklut Hillel Center and the Parents and Grandparents Fund.
Commencement 2020
Dick will deliver his address during an outdoor ceremony on Scott Plaza in front of Alamance Building that will also include a processional of students, student speakers and performances, and President Connie Ledoux Book’s charge to graduates.
Following this outdoor ceremony, there will be two separate diploma-awarding ceremonies for the Class of 2020 held in Schar Center. The Martha and Spencer Love School of Business and the School of Communications will award diplomas at the 11:30 a.m. ceremony. Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the School of Education will award diplomas at the 3:30 p.m. ceremony. Each diploma-awarding ceremony will last about two hours.
For more information about Elon’s Commencement week activities, visit www.elon.edu/commencement, which will be updated throughout the spring as events and programs are finalized.