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Lake Forest, Ill. – Scott Turow, widely acclaimed novelist and Chicago attorney, will deliver the Commencement address, titled “Future Values,” for Lake Forest College’s 131st Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, May 9, 2009. The ceremony, which will begin at 10:45 a.m., will be held at Ravinia Festival Park in Highland Park, Illinois.

More information can be found on the College’s alumni Web site.

Turow has authored seven best-selling novels, two works of non-fiction, and a novella. He is also a frequent contributor to The New York Times, Washington Post, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic, among other publications. His books have won numerous prestigious literary awards, including the Heartland Prize in 2003 for Reversible Errors, the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award in 2004 for Ultimate Punishment, and Time Magazine's Best Work of Fiction in 1999 for Personal Injuries.

Turow has been a partner in the Chicago office of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, a national law firm, since 1986, concentrating on white-collar criminal defense, while also devoting a substantial amount of time to pro bono matters. In one such case, he represented Alejandro Hernandez in the successful appeal that led to Hernandez’s release after nearly twelve years in prison, including five on death row, for a murder he did not commit.

A graduate with high honors from Amherst College, where he presently serves as a trustee, Turow was also a two-year fellow at the Stanford University Creative Writing Center, and he received his law degree from Harvard Law School. A musician in his spare time, Turow performs with the Rock Bottom Remainders, a musical group of best-selling authors that raises funds for various literacy charities. Turow will receive the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters.

In addition to Turow, the other honorands at the ceremony will be Barbara Gaines, founder and artistic director of Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and Peter Schiff ’74, current Chairman of the Lake Forest College Board of Trustees and founder and CEO of Northwood Ventures, LLC.

Barbara Gaines is the founder and artistic director of Chicago Shakespeare Theater, where she has directed more than 30 of Shakespeare’s plays. Her work has been honored with Jeff Awards for Best Production (The Comedy of Errors, Hamlet, The Tale of Cymbeline and King Lear) and for Best Director (The Comedy of Errors, The Tale of Cymbeline and King Lear).

In 2005, Gaines was awarded the prestigious Honorary OBE (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in recognition of her contributions in strengthening British-American cultural relations. She also received the 2007 Public Humanities Award from the Illinois Humanities Council, and is the recipient of the 2004 Spirit of Loyola Award.

Gaines serves on the Shakespearean Council of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London and is a Life Trustee of Northwestern University. She is a member of the Cultural Affairs Advisory Board for the City of Chicago and has served on panels for the National Endowment for the Arts. She will receive the honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts.

Peter G. Schiff ’74 is Chairman of the Lake Forest College Board of Trustees, and founder and CEO of Northwood Ventures LLC, a New York-based venture capital firm. A 1974 graduate of Lake Forest College, Schiff received an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business with concentrations in finance and marketing. Before opening Northwood Ventures in 1983, he worked in the private equity division of E.M. Warburg, Pincus & Co., and previously served as an officer in the corporate division of Chemical Bank (now JPMorgan Chase & Co.). In addition to serving on the board of Lake Forest College, Schiff is Chairman of the Board of Interboro Insurance Company, a director of the New York Racing Association, and serves on the Advisory Board for the North Shore Land Alliance. Schiff will receive the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.

President Stephen D. Schutt will preside over the ceremony at Ravinia Festival Park, and will award approximately 300 graduates Bachelor of Arts and Master of Liberal Studies degrees.

Lake Forest College is a national liberal arts institution located 30 miles north of downtown Chicago. The College has 1,400 students representing 45 states and 69 countries.

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Contact: Liz Libby
847-735-6011
libby@lakeforest.edu