The 1985 Awardees

Richard K. Barry
(1937-1998)

AB 1959
Menlo Park, CA

Richard K. ("Dick") Barry, a San Francisco area investor, received the John Carroll Award in ceremonies held at the Caribe Hilton Resort, San Juan, PR, on October 25, 1985.

Originally from Larchmont, NY, Barry received his bachelor's degree from Georgetown in 1959 and an MBA from UCLA. After a number of years at the accounting firm of Arthur Young, Barry founded the Shamrock Group, a private investment group in Atherton, CA.

A golfer while at Georgetown, Barry endowed a scholarship for the men's golf team in honor of his father, and was a member of numerous University boards and committees.

Dick Barry died in 1998 at the age of 61.

J. Hampton Baumgartner Jr.
(1920-2004)

LLB 1948
Chevy Chase, MD

John Hampton ("Jack") Baumgartner, a prominent Washington based attorney and alumni volunteer, received the John Carroll Award in ceremonies held at the Caribe Hilton Resort, San Juan, PR, on October 25, 1985.

Born and raised in Baltimore, Baumgartner earned a bachelor's degree from St. Peter's College before entering military service, and enrolled at Georgetown Law School in 1945. Following his degree, Baumgartner served as assistant corporation counsel for the District of Columbia from 1949 to 1957 before entering private practice.

Baumgartner was the lead attorney in the case of Benenson v. U.S., a case surrounding the planned demolition of the Willard Hotel to make way for a large concrete plaza at 15th and Pennsylvania Avenues, N.W. Though the hotel was spared, the case argued that the acquisition of the property was subject to compensation to its former owners.

Over his years as a law alumnus, Baumgartner served as the national chairman for the Law Annual Fund, served as the vice president for the law school within the Georgetown University Alumni Association, and chaired a number of class reunions.

Following his death in 2004 at the age of 84, a bequest from Baumgartner's estate established the John H. Baumgartner, Jr. Chair in Real Property Law at the Law Center.

Dr. Arsenio C. Comas-Urrutia, MD
(1935-2022)

AB 1957
Rio Piedras, PR

Arsenio C. ("Art") Comas, a San Juan-based physician and alumni volunteer, received the John Carroll Award in ceremonies held at the Caribe Hilton Resort, San Juan, PR, on October 25, 1985.

A 1957 graduate of the College, Dr. Comas was a longtime professor in obstetrics at the University of Puerto Rico, and maintained a private practice, which he has been an active member of the San Juan medical community for over 50 years.

A past president of the Georgetown Club of Puerto Rico, Dr. Comas was honored for his efforts on behalf of all alumni in Puerto Rico, which was hosting the John Carroll Awards for the first time in 1985.

Charles A. Deacon, III

AB 1964, MA 1969
Fairfax, VA

Charles Deacon, the dean of admissions at Georgetown University since 1972, received the John Carroll Award in ceremonies held at the Caribe Hilton Resort, San Juan, PR, on October 25, 1985.

A native of Washington DC, Deacon was the first in his family to attend college, an opportunity he did not forget in the intervening years. He joined the admissions office when pursuing his master's degree, was named assistant dean of admissions in 1969, and was named dean of admissions at the age of 29, serving on the committee that hired another 29 year old Washingtonian as its new basketball coach: John Thompson.

Georgetown's rise in the field of higher education is directly attributable to the admissions strategies employed by Deacon and his staffs over the years. In 1972, the accepted student ratio was 50 percent, there were few candidates in the upper realm of the SAT tests, and many of the top students did not accept offers due to cost.

"There were three of us in the admissions office in this same place in White-Gravenor," Deacon said. We didn't really begin to grow until the early 70s when Georgetown faced a budget crisis that they wanted to solve by enrollment. That was the beginning of competitive admissions during the 60s and 70s."

Deacon remains a proponent of the need-blind, full need financial policy that sent Georgetown's reputation skyward, though not without critics who felt it moved Georgetown away from traditional Catholic schools.

"When I first got the job, the university officially compared itself to American, George Washington, Catholic, Boston College, Notre Dame and Holy Cross," he said.

He has also been a leader within higher education in promoting opportunities for low-income students to attend Georgetown, remarking in 2013 that " One of our most satisfying things over the last 10 years has been the move to attention toward first-generation, low-income kids...We know that kids born in the bottom quintile have very little chance of moving up, and if they do move up there's a very small chance that they graduate college. If a Georgetown or an Ivy league school can open that door and enhance it with supportive networking, that can be a successful way to level the playing field for these kids who have to overcome situations that other students at Georgetown don't."

Honored with the John Carroll Award in 1985, Deacon's impact upon the University has only grown in the ensuing years. From the first brochure, the first tour, or the first e-mail, admissions is the front gate of the University, and his impact was summed up by a 2013 HOYA editorial titled, appropriately enough, "Our Worthy Gatekeeper". In it, it wrote: "As college admissions reach dizzying levels of competitiveness, it is heartening to hear University President John J. DeGioia call Georgetown's Office of Admissions the most ethical in the country - for good reason... [Deacon] rejects the merit of switching over to the Common Application because it could bloat our applicant pool with uninterested students. For Deacon, the benefit of potentially attracting a student away from an Ivy is not worth the cost of waitlisting a qualified student with a genuine desire to attend Georgetown."

"An admissions office has remarkable influence over the character of a university. Insofar as that's true at Georgetown, we are lucky to have Charles Deacon at the helm."

Ismael H. Herrero Jr.
(1933-2007)

AB 1956
San Juan, PR

Ismael ("Ish") Herrero Jr., a San Juan attorney, received the John Carroll Award in ceremonies held at the Caribe Hilton Resort, San Juan, PR, on October 25, 1985.

Herrero grew up in the San Juan neighborhood known as Santurce. He graduated from the College in 1956 and was a prominent attorney in San Juan for nearly a half century, and was no less prominent for his unfailing support of his alma mater. The chairman of the Alumni Admission Program committee for Puerto Rico, Herrero supported the hopes and dreams of hundreds of Puerto Rico students who attended the University in his years as a volunteer.

A long time supporter of Georgetown athletics, Herrero was front and center when the Georgetown men's basketball team played its first intercollegiate games outside the mainland in December 1984 at San Juan's Roberto Clemente Coliseum.

Ish Herrero died in 2007 at the age of 74.

Dr. Masaichi Oishi, DDS
(1924-1999)

DDS 1955
Kahului, HI

Dr. Masaichi Oishi, a dentist and longtime volunteer for the Alumni Admissions Program in Hawaii, received the John Carroll Award in ceremonies held at the Caribe Hilton Resort, San Juan, PR, on October 25, 1985.

Born in 1924 in Kapaa, Kauai, Dr,. Oishi served stateside as an intelligence officer in World War II, during a period when many native Hawaiians were discriminated in military service as part of their ancestry. Following college, he earned his Georgetown degree as valedictorian of the 1955 dental class and returned to Hawaii for a long and prominent career in dentistry.

Dr. Oishi served on the Board of Governors of the Georgetown University Alumni Association from 1980 to 1983 and was a past president of the Georgetown Club of Hawaii. He was the first of three generations of his family to attends Georgetown and serve in the field of dentistry.

Masaichi Oishi died in 1999 at the age of 75.

Ramon A. Rosado Vila

AB 1955
Guaynabo, PR

Ramon A. Rosado, a San Juan attorney, received the John Carroll Award in ceremonies held at the Caribe Hilton Resort, San Juan, PR, on October 25, 1985.

A 1955 graduate of the College, Rosado led an effort through the Georgetown Club of Puerto Rico to raise $1 million for need-based scholarships for Puerto Rican students. He was a past president for the Georgetown Club of Puerto Rico and served as the chairman of the 1985 John Carroll committee for San Juan.