Opinion/Martin: Remembering Vartan Gregorian
Jack Martin
Jack Martin is executive director of Providence Public Library.
When I first met Vartan Gregorian the former Brown University president, philanthropist and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient who passed away last week it was at the Carnegie Corporation holiday party of 2013. My husband had just started working there. I remember an incredible dinner and party and karaokeing to David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust while Vartan s wife Clare clapped alongside from a chair. They were both incredible, magnetic and full of energy and enthusiasm.
I got to know several of the team at Carnegie, where Gregorian was president, including many of VG’s (that’s one of the many monikers he was addressed by) staffers. When I got the job at Providence Public Library, one of them advised me to meet with him. She likened my new position and charge at Providence Public Library with his visionary rejuvenation of The New York Public Libr