Herbert D. Doan, Loyal to Family and the U-M, Dies at 83
When Herbert D. (Ted) Doan died May 16 in Ann Arbor, the University of Michigan lost one of its most loyal and caring supporters. Prior to his death at age 83, Doan, and family members, through gifts to the Medical School, honored the legacy of his parents, while advancing research and patient care at the U-M.
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| Photo: Martin Vloet |
As part of the ongoing The Michigan Difference campaign, Doan and his wife,
Junia, in 2001 endowed the Ruth Dow Doan Professorship in Biologic Nanotechnology
and Directorship Fund for the Center for Biologic Research — not only
as a tribute to his mother, but also an acknowledgment of the extraordinary
promise of nanotechnology and its applications to medicine.
Seeking to pay similar homage to their father, Doan and his sister, Dorothy
Doan Arbury, in 2005 created the Leland Ira Doan Research Professorship in Vascular
Surgery. Although new in Leland Doan’s name, the fund already had family
roots. Originally established in 1953 as an endowment to honor Leland Doan’s
mother, Hester Spencer Doan, it was converted to a professorship last year to
honor her son.
Doan was a businessman and philanthropist and the last Dow family member to
serve as CEO of Dow Chemical — the company founded by his grandfather
in 1897. Doan, who was president and CEO from 1962-71, is credited with transforming
Dow from an obscure firm that made chemicals for other companies into one of
the most widely known U.S. companies and one of the world’s half-dozen
largest chemical companies.
A long time benefactor of the University who believed strongly in entrepreneurship,
Doan — who hailed from Midland, Michigan, and served as chairman of the
Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation — also was a supporter of the Samuel
Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, and the Center
for Venture Capital and Private Equity Finance in the Stephen M. Ross School
of Business.
The University in October 2005 honored Doan with an award celebrating his lifetime
of innovation and service to the state of Michigan. During a reception and dinner
with President Mary Sue Coleman, Doan was presented the inaugural University
of Michigan Award for Outstanding Leadership in Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Today, it is the Ted Doan Award for Outstanding Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
In addition to his wife, Junia, Doan is survived by their daughter, Alexandra
Anne Alden Doan; and Doan’s children from a previous marriage, Jeffrey,
Christine and Michael Doan, and Ruth Doan France.
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