CMU celebrates Richard Rauh

It was a night to celebrate on Tuesday inside the Purnell Center for the Arts as Richard Rauh was being honored for his generous contributions to Carnegie Mellon University. The celebration took place, fittingly, inside The Helen Wayne Rauh Studio Theatre, named after his late mother. “I remember when she finally called me a good actor,” Mr. Rauh said, beaming. “Mother was always acting, always enjoyed the performing arts, so to get that compliment from her meant a lot to me.” His upbringing instilled a love of the arts from an early age, and his love for Carnegie Mellon? That came from the people, themselves. “I just like everyone here and wanted to contribute to the work being done. We are simpatico,” he added. “This event is special not only because we get to honor Richard and his incredible contributions, but also to acknowledge that these contributions allow for us to achieve things we otherwise could not do without this level of support,” said Peter Cooke, professor and head, School of Drama.

And at a place like CMU, the importance of fine arts cannot be stressed enough. “It is about educating the whole person,” said Dan Martin, Stanley & Marcia Gumberg Dean, College of Fine Arts. “We tend to draw students who are musical and technologically inclined so that they have a foot in each world. It makes us all better people to have art in our lives,” he said. After mingling and honoring Mr. Rauh, guests settled in for a special performance of “The Drowsy Chaperone.”

#SEEN: Laurie R. Wiengart, CMU’s interim provost; Denis Colwell; Terry Irwin, Marne and Brad Busatto; Scott Kiser; Susan Tsu; Tome Cousin; Mary Jo Dively, Angela Blanton, Idunn Lohne, Shuang Yang, Zoe Harrison, Daniel Curtis, Thomas Douglas, Carolyn Hess Abraham, Joseph Auria, Elizabeth and Michael Zamagias, and Alli Frymoyer.