K. Dun Gifford, 71, Boston civic/political leader, aide to two Kennedys, president/founder of non-profit Oldways
Hoodoo
By Herald Staff
Thursday, May 13, 2010
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/obituaries/view/20100513k_dun_gifford/
K. Dun Gifford of Cambridge, a longtime leader in Boston civic and
political circles, an aide to two Kennedys and president and founder of
the Boston-based non-profit Oldways, died unexpectedly Sunday in Exeter,
N.H. He was 71.
He was born in Providence, R.I. Mr. Gifford spent his summers at his
family home on Nantucket.
He graduated from Moses Brown School in Providence, R.I., St. Georges
School in Newport, R.I., Harvard College, with honors in English,
Harvard Law School and the Navy Officers Candidate School. In 2002, he
received an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Cambridge College.
From 1960 until 1963, Mr. Gifford served in the Navy, reaching the rank
of lieutenant, junior grade, specializing in navigation.
After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1966, Mr. Gifford began his
career as a special assistant in the office of the secretary at the
Department of Housing and Urban Development, where he researched policy
proposals for the White House on urban renewal and inner-city
development. After leaving that post, he worked as a legislative
assistant to Sen. Edward Kennedy, drafting speeches and numerous pieces
of legislation, before becoming a national campaign coordinator in
charge of delegate coordination during the presidential bid of Sen.
Robert Kennedy.
Mr. Gifford was with Sen. Robert Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel in Los
Angeles and witnessed the senator�s assassination and helped subdue the
assailant Sirhan Sirhan. The death of Sen. Kennedy had a profound impact
on his decision to dedicate his life to public service.
In 1970, Mr. Gifford left politics to move to Boston, where he took a
position as vice president and assistant to the president at the
commercial real estate firm Cabot, Cabot & Forbes. While there he was
active in the development of many landmark office buildings in Boston,
including 60 State Street. He later founded the Great Bay company, an
independent real estate development and investment firm.
Mr. Gifford served numerous civic and political causes in Boston. From
1972 to 1974, he was chairman of the Massachusetts Chapter of Common
Cause and in 1976, was appointed to the citywide coordinating council by
Judge Arthur W. Garrity Jr. to help monitor the city�s busing crisis.
In 1988, Mr. Gifford was named chairman of the national American
Institute of Wine and Food. On a research trip to China and Italy in the
late 1980s, Mr. Gifford saw the need for a group that would push for not
only quality food and wine but healthy and sustainable products as well,
which led to the creation of Oldways in 1990. For the past 20 years,
Oldways has gained international media acclaim for its work promoting
better eating around the world. The non-profit was also a major force
behind the rise in popularity of the Mediterranean diet in the U.S.,
which was developed along with the Harvard School of Public Heath and
the World Health Organization.
�I want to challenge the insidious and overwhelming rise of junk foods,
and fad diets, and to advocate a return to healthy, traditional old ways
of eating,� Mr. Gifford said in a recent interview. �I saw Oldways as an
agent of change, as a new organization that would challenge the world�s
assumptions about the future of our food from harvesting, to processing,
preparing, and eating.�
An active environmental and food research and nutrition author, Mr.
Gifford was also a trustee of Cambridge College, the Worth Bingham Fund
Journalism Awards, and the James Beard Foundation. Mr. Gifford also
enjoyed a lifelong connection to Nantucket, where he liked to fish,
garden, keep bees and dig clams. As a young man, he was an avid,
competitive sailor who went on to serve as navigator for the successful
defense of America�s Cup aboard the 12-meter Constellation in 1964.
Mr. Gifford is survived by three sons, Dun Jr. of Portland, Ore., Arnold
Porter of Cambridge and Clarence Hamilton of New York; a daughter,
Caroline Ames of Newfane, Vt.; his former wife, Gladys C. Porter of
Providence, R.I.; two brothers, Charles K. �Chad� and John F.; a sister,
Priscilla Mleczko; his partner and colleague, Sara Bear-Sinnott of
Exeter, N.H.; and five grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held 10 a.m. tomorrow at St. John�s Memorial
Chapel, Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge.
--
Trout Mask Replica
WFMU.org or WMSE.org; because music channels on
Sirius Satellite, and its internet radio player, suck