AWARDEE SPOTLIGHT: RANDY OLD
At the 2019 Annual Meeting in San Diego, Randy Old (President of ACOR’s Board of Trustees) received the W. F. Albright Award. This award honors an individual who has shown special support or made outstanding service contributions to one of the overseas centers, ACOR, AIAR, CAARI, or to one of the overseas committees.
Randy Old receives the Albright Award at the 2019 Annual Meeting in San Diego.
Randolph B. Old, President, ACOR Board of Trustees, has been involved with ACOR since he and his family initially moved to Amman in 1975, when he met then ACOR Director Jim Sauer, thus beginning his long dedication to ACOR. This relationship was sustained even after they moved away from Jordan in the 1980s. Due to Randy’s expertise and commitment to the cultural heritage of Jordan, he was invited by the board to become a trustee in 1990, and by 1992 he assumed the role of Treasurer, overseeing the Board’s fiduciary responsibility for a full decade. Upon the retirement of Artemis Joukowsky from the Board Presidency in 2011, Randy was elected as Artie’s successor and has served in that role ever since. Randy presided over the Board during a period of expansion, as well as for ACOR’s 50th Anniversary Year in 2018. Randy’s enduring loyalty to ACOR has been manifested in many ways, including his almost 30 years of Board service, his close ties to individuals involved with ACOR, and particularly through his support for the library. Most noteworthy has been his constant commitment to the well-being of the institute as a vital part of Jordanian intellectual life and as an important cultural bridge between Jordan and the United States.
While he did not make a speech at the meeting, Old made this statement in reaction to receiving the Albright Award.
“Of course I am honored to have received the Albright Award, but I feel the real reward for being a member of ACOR’s Board for the last 30 years has been the friendships, the site visits, the projects, the meetings, dinners, celebrations, and problem solving in the world of archaeology that people with a lay background like me do not get a chance to be part of. The ACOR/ASOR family is wide, talented, fun and very different from my stodgy banking background. I feel my wife, our three children and their five children have benefited immensely from our ACOR relationship. We have deep roots in Jordan, calling it a second home, and it has been a significant part of our lives and growth.”
