Spring 2009 — Vol. 62, No. 2
By Dot Yandle
From Vail to Charleston, this year’s Alumni Distinguished Service Award recipients display their own super powers — in business, community service and University support.
Harry H. Frampton III ’67
Harry Frampton is attracted by people who’re “outliers” — achievers not typical of their peers — who think boldly, adopt new strategies and generally accomplish goals in untraditional ways. It may be that he’s an outlier himself.
He’s made a distinctive mark on many communities since leaving Clemson with an economics degree. The Hartsville native was hired by legendary community developer Charles Fraser to join the Sea Pines Co., beginning a career in residential and resort development that moved from the South Carolina coast to Charlotte, N.C.; Richmond, Va.; and on to the high mountains of Vail, Colo., his home for the past 25 years.
As senior managing partner of East West Partners, Frampton has led the development of resort properties in Vail and Breckenridge, Colo.; Lake Tahoe, Calif.; and Deer Valley, Utah. Recently he was inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame. He has been Citizen of the Year both in Vail and Beaver Creek and, as a volunteer, chairman of the 40,000-member Urban Land Institute. Frampton has an international reputation for promoting responsible development and for giving back to the community around him.
In Vail, Frampton founded and has led for 25 years the Vail Valley Foundation, a nonprofit that helped make Vail special by sponsoring performances by the New York Philharmonic, Bolshoi Ballet and others. The foundation built and operates the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater.
For Clemson, he’s been chairman and served as a board member of the Clemson University Foundation for 12 years. He supports an endowment in architecture honoring his longtime mentor Charles Fraser and gives annual scholarships to S.C. minority students. He’s also a 40-year donor to IPTAY.
Frampton and his wife, Susan, an honored community volunteer, have two sons, Christopher and Matthew, and two grandchildren.
Web Extra: Harry H. Frampton III ’67
Eddie M. Robinson ’79
Eddie Robinson likes Tuesdays. That’s the day he does surgery in the morning and sees his small animal patients in the afternoon at his thriving Midlands Veterinary Practice in Columbia.
He enjoys the variety that his work brings. He remembers thinking, as a child visiting his grandfather’s farm when the local veterinarian was there, that medicine was like putting the parts of a puzzle together. He still relishes the challenges and pleasures of operating a veterinary practice.
Robinson came to Clemson on the advice of his Lewisville High School counselor in Richburg, who told him it would be a good choice for a pre-veterinary program. He enrolled, sight unseen. After earning his Clemson degree in zoology, he went on to the Tuskegee University School of Veterinary Medicine. Soon after graduating, he became deeply involved in Clemson alumni activities.
Robinson worked first with the Clemson Black Alumni Council, the Columbia Clemson Club and Second Century Society. He also served on the Clemson University Board of Visitors from 1993 through 1998. He became a member of the Alumni National Council and was its president in 2003-04. He served on the University’s Humanities Advancement Board from 2003 through 2008. Currently, he’s a board member of both IPTAY and the Clemson University Foundation.
Add to that a multitude of Columbia and statewide commitments — from mentoring elementary schoolchildren to serving on state commissions. And this year he’s president of the Lake Murray/Irmo Rotary Club, which named him a Paul Harris Fellow in 2003.
Robinson and his wife, Cynthia, deputy director of the Richland County Recreation Commission, were introduced by a mutual friend who attended Clemson with Eddie. They have a daughter, Lawryn, and a son, Randall, a sophomore at Clemson in financial management.
Web Extra: Eddie M. Robinson ’79
Neil C. Robinson Jr. ’66
It’s hard to put a finger, so to speak, on Charleston attorney Neil Robinson. His interests are so wide and his dedication to all of them so deep that just when you seem to have him “pegged,” he surprises you with a new twist or turn.
People who know and work with him describe him as “engaging” and having “great communication skills.” They say he’s “respected,” having been named one of the “Best Lawyers in America” by his peers for 15 consecutive years. He’s also been named to “Chambers USA: America’s Leading Business Lawyers.”
Robinson has used all those personal attributes in his work for Clemson over the years, and he applies them to two of his long-running causes: the Charleston Education Network, which he founded in 1996, and the annual Southeastern Wildlife Exposition, which he serves as board president. The Expo, at the top of the state’s tourism attractions, celebrates it 27th year in 2009 in Charleston.
As for the University, he’s a Clemson Fund donor (for 42 years) and a life scholarship donor to IPTAY. When he comes back to Clemson and stands to sing the Alma Mater, he says it’s “like the national anthem — gives me goose bumps!”
Currently on the board of directors of the Clemson University Foundation, he’s been a member and president of the Clemson Advancement Foundation as well. Robinson, whose specialty is real estate law, is a member of the Clemson Board of Visitors and a founding member of the Clemson Real Estate Development Foundation. He’s also served on the Clemson University Humanities Advancement Board.
He and his wife, Vicki, an interior designer and artist, have three children: Hunter ‘99, married to Stephen Forstchen ’99; Neil III (Trey), a Clemson junior; and 13-year-old Taylor.
Web Extra: Neil C. Robinson Jr. ’66
Jane S. Sosebee ’78
She balances a high-powered career, a full slate of civic commitments, and — with the help of a husband-made-in-heaven — a smooth-running family life with the grace of a professional juggler.
Jane Senn Sosebee, born in Laurens, describes herself as rather shy when she came to Clemson. But she got over that. She played every intramural sport and fell hard for public speaking under the expert tutelage of speech team coach Buddy Goodall.
After she graduated with an English degree, her first job in business was with Southern Bell. The company evolved through BellSouth to AT&T, where Sosebee is now external affairs director for South Carolina. She leads the statewide team that works with local governments and community groups on public policy issues, economic development opportunities and other initiatives to improve the quality of life for all South Carolinians. She’s past chairman of the Upstate Alliance, Innovate Anderson and the Greenville Chamber of Commerce board of directors.
For Clemson, Sosebee is vice president and a fifth-year member of the Clemson University Foundation Board. Her skills have directly helped the University achieve remarkable help from AT&T for a number of projects, just one of which was the telecommunications infrastructure for the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research in Greenville, resulting in the naming of the AT&T Auditorium on the CU-ICAR campus.
A significant gift to the Madren Center resulted in the naming of the center’s BellSouth Auditorium, and her efforts for the Clemson University Advanced Materials Center in Anderson have aided in its expansion.
Though her work is based in Columbia, where she spends part of every week, Sosebee and her family live in Clemson. She and her husband, Greg, owner of a surveying company, have two daughters, Katherine and Laura, both Clemson students.
Web Extra: Jane S. Sosebee ’78
Kenneth L. Smith ’81
In his multifaceted job as senior vice president of Fluor Corp.’s Government Group, Ken Smith flies over the Atlantic more times in a year than most of us take in a movie.
He estimates that he’s made more than 60 trips to the United Kingdom alone and countless others to countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East during his 13 years with the giant engineering and construction firm. But he still makes time to do those things at home in South Carolina that he feels truly passionate about.
One object of his passion is the state itself and his firm belief that an ever-greater Clemson University can provide the leadership that will make South Carolina better. The Greenville native works hard to make that happen by contributing time, resources and influence to help the University achieve its top-20 goals for the future. His time and expertise are valued in the Greenville community and statewide, as well.
A graduate in mechanical engineering, Smith currently chairs the College of Engineering and Science Advisory Board and has been responsible for helping to acquire well over $2 million in gifts from Fluor Corp., used both as matching funds to establish the Fluor Endowed Chair in Supply Chain and Logistics and to fund several other vital Clemson programs. His generous personal gifts support academics and athletics.
While successful in business, Smith is most proud of his family. He likes to tell that he had a brief sixth-grade romance with his wife, Layne (Bailey) ’81 — with whom he celebrates 25 years of marriage this spring — but never dated her again until both had graduated from Clemson. The couple has three daughters, Kelly ’08, Haley (a Clemson sophomore) and Cameron, a high school senior.
Web Extra: Kenneth L. Smith ’81
To learn more about nominating outstanding Clemson alumni for next year’s award, go to cualumni.clemson.edu/dsa or call (864) 656-2345.