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Lafayette College presented degrees to 510 graduates and honored the City of Easton and Binney & Smith, Inc., the Easton-based makers of Crayola crayons and other products, at its 162nd Commencement on Saturday.
The College presented honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees to Thomas F. Goldsmith, the mayor of Easton, and Richard Gurin, the president and CEO of Binney & Smith, who played pivotal roles in developing the Two Rivers Landing Visitors Center and The Crayola Factory, attractions that have have drawn hundreds of thousands of tourists and helped bring about a revitalizaton of Easton’s downtown since their opening last July.
The attractions are a model of public-private cooperation among Binney & Smith, the Easton Economic Development Corp., Lafayette College, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the Hugh Moore Park Commission, and the Delaware and Lehigh Canal National Heritage Corridor.
François Bujon de l’Estang, France’s ambassador to the United States, was the principal speaker. Founded in 1826 by citizens of Easton, Lafayette College was named for the Marquis de Lafayette, the French hero of the American Revolution. Bujon, who continues the Marquis’s tradition of service to both France and the United States, was presented the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.
Two others received honorary degrees, Dolores R. Leckey, executive director of the Secretariat for Family, Laity, Women and Youth of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (Doctor of Divinity); and Geoerge Veronis, a 1950 Lafayette graduate who is the Henry Barnard Davis Professor of geophysics and applied mathematics at Yale University (Doctor of Science).