Friends Honor Frank Menaker Jr. ’65 with Memorial Initiative
Frank Menaker ’65 was “someone you could follow as a leader,” said Menaker’s former coworker Marian Block. As a result, his passing in February 2020 touched many who had worked with him. Menaker’s dedication to integrity and ethics defined his career, inspiring three of his former colleagues and friends to honor his mission of corporate ethics by establishing the Frank H. Menaker Jr. Memorial Initiative at American University Washington College of Law.
Block, Jay Brozost, and Maryanne Lavan ’84, all of Lockheed Martin Corp., were hired by Menaker at different points in their careers. “If there was corruption in the companies, then Frank wanted it to surface and to be on top of it,” Brozost explained. “He had a real vision of how a corporation should work. I bought into it.”
“Frank definitely had a focus on compliance and ethics,” said Lavin. “Once he engrained the ethics into his people, they could become better lawyers. When we brought people on, we implanted that in them.”
As a result, Menaker’s values influenced the design of the initiative in his honor.
“We thought about a scholarship program, [but] the more we talked about it, the program morphed into a multifaceted lecture series in which we could focus on recent developments and changes in the law and reach students and practitioners,” Brozost explained.
Gifts will be used to:
- Establish an annual lecture series—The Frank H. Menaker Corporate Integrity and Ethics Lecture—during the regular school year. This lecture will serve as a public forum for a noted participant in the business or legal community to engage in a discussion of ethical business practices. The lecture will be open to students and faculty at American University, as well as to the broader Washington, D.C., private sector, policy community, and media. The funds will defray the costs of the speaker or speakers and a reception following the lecture.
- Sponsor a keynote speaker at a luncheon to be held at the law school’s annual Anti-Corruption Law Summer Program. This speaker series will highlight topical ethical issues. The program will benefit current law students, as well as graduate students and practitioners in the U.S. and abroad.
- Assist accepted students to the annual Anti-Corruption Law Summer Program who demonstrate a commitment to corporate integrity and ethics and would benefit from financial support.
Visit alumniassociation.american.edu/menaker to make a gift.