Priscilla King Gray, the spouse of former MIT president Paul Gray ’54, SM ’55, ScD ’60, and cofounder of the MIT Public Service Center (since renamed the PKG Center), died February 8 at age 89.
In greater than 50 years on the Institute, starting when her husband joined the college in 1960, Gray made an indelible mark, particularly via the middle that she based in 1988 with the late Shirley McBay, then dean of pupil affairs. She served as cochair of its steering committee for 23 years and was “a true strategic thought partner” all through its evolution into a corporation whose imaginative and prescient of public service is now long-term, community-informed, and academically aligned, says affiliate dean Jill Bassett, its present director.
But she additionally performed a way more private function for generations within the MIT neighborhood. Through her neighborhood actions and the embroidery lessons she taught for years, Gray discovered an ideal deal about college students’ opinions and desires, serving to her supply invaluable recommendation to her husband. And when he grew to become president, she began a practice of dinners for undergraduate seniors in what’s now Gray House. “I wanted to somehow make sure every MIT student had been in the president’s house once,” she informed the MIT Infinite History undertaking.
“Priscilla was the mother of all of us who were students at MIT,” says Hyun-A Park ’83, MCP ’85, a member of the MIT Corporation and former president of the Alumni Association.
Gray was named an honorary member of the MITAA in 1977 and obtained its Harold E. Lobdell ’17 Distinguished Service Award in 1985. In 1990, she obtained the Bronze Beaver, its highest honor.
“As I’m learning,” says MIT’s new president, Sally Kornbluth, “Priscilla’s name is synonymous with public service at MIT—a fitting legacy for someone who believed deeply in our students and their capacity to do good in the world.”