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Media
Contact:
Paul K. Mueller,
News Services, 919/515-3470.
Nov.
22, 2002
NC State
Honors "Patches" Meares with 2002 Menscer
Cup
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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Merlin
A. "Patches" Meares, an alumnus of North
Carolina State University and retired president
of A.E. Finley & Associates, has been awarded
the 2002 Menscer Cup by the NC State Foundation
in recognition of his lifelong service to the
university.
Meares, a native of Chadbourn, N.C., and
a 1947 graduate in mechanical engineering, serves
on the NC State Alumni Association board of directors,
the Campaign for Excellence steering committee,
the board of directors of the Friends of the Library,
and the board of directors of the Wolfpack Club
- a group he has served for 25 years.
A Chancellor's Circle Partner, Meares has been
inducted into the R.S. Pullen and W.H. Page Lifetime
Giving Societies and received the university's
highest honor, the Watauga Medal, in 1999.
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Merlin
A. "Patches" Meares
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He
received the Menscer Cup in a ceremony Nov. 14 at the
Cardinal Club in downtown Raleigh. The NC State Foundation
created the Menscer Cup award in 1997 to honor Darrell
and Carolyn Menscer of Murrells Inlet, S.C., for
"exemplary leadership of advancement efforts"
at the university. While chairing the foundation and
co-chairing the Campaign for NC State Students, Darrell
Menscer led university fundraising, endowment management
and alumni services.
During the award ceremony, Menscer praised Meares' lifelong
commitment to both academics and athletics at NC State,
and noted his special interest in the Caldwell Programs,
named for Meares' friend, the late John T. Caldwell,
university chancellor from 1959 to 1975, and his establishment
of the Caldwell Program Trust for Athletics and Engineering.
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"Patches"
Meares receives 2002 Menscer Cup Award from Darrell
Menscer on Nov. 14.
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Meares
interrupted his studies at NC State to serve
in the Army Air Corps from 1944 to 1945. As
a student, he was a member of Blue Key, Golden
Chain, Tau Beta Pi, Pi Tau Sigma and Theta Tau,
and served as representative and president of
the Engineers' Council. He also co-founded the
NC State-Raleigh chapter of the Fellowship of
Christian Athletes. Following his graduation
in 1947, he married Dorothy "Dot"
Swain, a graduate of Peace College and UNC-Chapel
Hill, and began work at A.E. Finley & Associates,
a prominent construction-equipment distributor.
Named president of the company in 1987, he is
recently retired from that position.
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In
addition to his contributions to NC State, Meares has
served on the boards of directors of numerous North
Carolina institutions and businesses, including the
Multiple Sclerosis Society, the Bank of North Carolina
and NCNB. He is an active member of the Edenton Street
United Methodist Church, a past president of the Carolina
Country Club and a member of the Raleigh Exchange Club
since 1954.
-30-
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Raleigh,
NC 27695
