The late Ted Stern will be honored with the Joseph P. Riley Jr. Vision Award for

Ted and Alva Stern at the Theodore S. Stern Student Center.

Ted and Alva Stern at the Theodore S. Stern Student Center.

Model Corporate Citizenship on January 20, 2015 as part of a celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. The award, presented posthumously to Stern by the City of Charleston and YWCA Greater Charleston, recognizes good corporate citizenship.

Stern, who was president of the College of Charleston from 1968 to 1978, oversaw a drastic expansion of campus and enrollment at the College, which included the racial integration of campus. Stern, who retired from the Navy as a captain before leading the College, was also the founding president of Spoleto Festival USA.

A few months before Stern died in January 2013 at age 100, the importance of civic contribution and societal equality were still on his mind. In an interview published in the College of Charleston Magazine shortly before his death, Stern reflected on a century’s worth of experiences:

“I’m overwhelmed by the progress of civilization. Watching the progress of the last 100 years and thinking how primitive it was before. And the fact that we are sort of sitting in the lap of luxury, and yet in faraway lands, whether it’s Africa or Asia, and people are starving, people are having children, not having food, or water, potable water. It’s a reflection that disturbs me because in the midst of extreme wealth, there’s extreme poverty to the point of starvation.”

To change things, he suggested, people must serve as inspiration to others.

“The greatest motivation is to lead by example,” said Stern. “Don’t expect others to do the things that you can’t do. Impress them with what you can do and what you will do.”

RELATED: For more wisdom from Ted Stern, check out the full interview in the College of Charleston Magazine.