Leonard Apt, C'42, and John Edgar Wideman, C'63, HON'86
The School of Arts & Sciences' first Distinguished Alumni
Awards were presented in 1995 to Leonard Apt, C'42, professor
emeritus of ophthalmology at the UCLA School of Medicine,
and John Edgar Wideman, C'63, HON'86, an acclaimed author
and a professor of English at the University of Massachusetts
at Amherst. Dr. Apt was recognized for his achievement in
the sciences and Professor Wideman for his achievement in
the humanities.
Leonard
Apt graduated from the College at the University of Pennsylvania in
1942. After receiving his medical degree from Thomas Jefferson Medical
College, he went on to become the first physician who was board certified
in both pediatrics and ophthalmology. Dr. Apt established the first
full-time Division of Pediatric Ophthalmology at a medical school in
the United States, at UCLA in 1961. His pioneering work has garnered
him many awards, including the Distinguished Achievement Award of the
American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus in
1995 and the Thomas Jefferson Medical College Alumni Achievement Award
in 1992.
John Edgar Wideman is the author of 13 critically-acclaimed books as well as numerous short stories and articles. He was a Rhodes Scholar after graduating from the College at the University of Pennsylvania in 1963, and went on to become the first writer to receive the PEN/Faulkner Award twice --for Sent for You Yesterday in 1984 and Philadelphia Fire in 1990. His many honors include an honorary degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1986, the American Book Award for Fiction in 1990, membership in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1992, and a MacArthur Award in 1993.