Randolph-Macon College President Robert R. Lindgren is pleased to announce that the College will confer an Honorary Degree to Dr. Arthur McKinley “Mack” Reynolds Jr. ’47 during RMC’s Commencement ceremony on June 1, 2019. Dr. Reynolds will receive an Honorary Doctor of Humanities Degree, based on a recommendation of the College’s Joint Trustee-Faculty Committee and approval of the Board of Trustees,

Dr. Mack Reynolds matriculated to Randolph-Macon at age 16 and graduated in 1947 with a Bachelor of Science degree in physics. He was a stellar science student elected to Chi Beta Phi, and actively involved outside the classroom as a football player and member of Lambda Chi fraternity and the RMC Glee Club.

Dr. Reynolds earned his M.D. from the Medical College of Virginia in 1953 and served as a flight surgeon in the United States Navy from 1953 to 1957. He completed his ophthalmology residency at Georgetown University from 1960 to 1963, and subsequently taught there as an associate clinical professor.

A devoted doctor, Dr. Reynolds built a thriving private practice in McLean, Virginia, from 1963 until his retirement in 1995. During his career, he served as president of the Northern Virginia Academy of Ophthalmology, and as a board member of the American Academy of Ophthalmology actively engaged in Government Relations advocacy on behalf of ophthalmologists and patients.

Dr. Reynolds has been a longtime, active, and effective volunteer on behalf of his alma mater. For nearly a decade, he was on the College’s Society of Alumni Board. He also served as the President of RMC’s Boydton Society, leading this significant group of alumni who attended Randolph-Macon 50 or more years ago.

In recognition of Dr. Reynolds’ important service to the College, he has received the Society of Alumni’s Distinguished Service Award. Also, in 2012 he and his late wife, Jan, received the prestigious Sydney Algernon Sullivan and Mary Mildred Sullivan Awards, respectively. The Sullivan awards are given to individuals who serve others in an extraordinary and humble way.

Dr. Reynolds is a generous supporter of a wide range of RMC’s programs and initiatives, including the College’s career program, The EDGE. As a result of his remarkable philanthropy, he is a member of the Presidents Society and Heritage Society.

In 2008, he established the Arthur McKinley Reynolds Lecture Series in memory of his mother and father, Arthur McK. Reynolds Sr., a member of RMC Class of 1925. The Reynolds Lecture Series provides an important contribution to the College community as well as the greater Ashland and Richmond areas by sponsoring national figures to speak on issues of current events.

President Lindgren states, “It is the quiet impact that Dr. Reynolds has had on students, both here and as a member of the faculty of Georgetown Medical Center, that embodies Dr. Reynolds’ service above self. As a teacher and researcher, Mack has passed along the traits of medicine and ophthalmology to countless students. And at Randolph-Macon, he has enhanced the education of our students, not only through his significant financial support, but also by his lecture program that affords an opportunity for many to experience some of the thought leaders of our time.”