When Harrigan came to Rockefeller in 1982, as controller, the university’s budget was about $60 million, compared to approximately $250 million today. “Looking back, I thought Rockefeller was complex at the time, but it was actually a relatively simple operation,” Harrigan says. In terms of financial management, things became more complicated in the 1990s with the hiring of many new faculty. “Between 1990 and today we’ve probably made 40 new faculty appointments,” Harrigan explains. “When you bring a new appointment in, you have to find the money to pay for it. You have to build a laboratory, and then provide continuing support. It’s not my job to find the money, but it’s my job to manage it.

“Even though we have roughly the same number of labs as in 1990, they are bigger and more complex. They’re bringing in more government funding, and the regulations underlying that funding are more complex.”

“It simply is not possible to overstate John’s contributions to the university in terms of astute financial planning and trustworthy financial management,” says Fred Bohen, Rockefeller’s executive vice president. “John helped design the plan that rescued us from the deep deficit of 1990, and that has kept us on an even keel ever since.” Harrigan gained experience in financial management of nonprofits and institutions of higher education during 17 years at the auditing firm now called KPMG. After a brief stint as associate controller at Columbia University, he moved to Rockefeller in 1982. In 1995 he took on the title and duties of vice president for finance in addition to being controller.

“Rockefeller is small compared to a university like Columbia,” Harrigan says. “At a bigger place, the functions I do in a week would be covered by several different people.” Harrigan has been responsible for accounting, grants management, budgets, financing of capital construction, preparing for audits, negotiating indirect costs, and managing government grants, as well as assessing the long-term budget impact of policy decisions. “That’s what is interesting to me — I cover a broad scope,” he adds. “I’ve been doing this for a lot of years. I’ll miss the challenge.”

Harrigan has already moved with his wife to a house they built in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, for their retirement. The most enjoyable aspects of working at Rockefeller have been the technical challenges and the people, Harrigan says. “The people I work with day to day are all good people, and that’s what I’ll miss.”

Meilach’s tenure at the university was the last chapter of a long career in facilities management. A native of Newport, Vermont, she has worked since 1971 in hotels, hospitals and nursing homes, as well as at several universities including Brown University and Bryn Mawr College. She has also been active in the International Executive Housekeeper Association, and has taught in hotel management programs at Montclair State University and other schools.

Executive Vice President Fred Bohen, who worked with Meilach at Brown, recruited her to Rockefeller. “She was known there as an institutional treasure — someone you could go to any hour of the day, and sometimes at night, to get a job done,” says Bohen. “She’s respected for her terrific work ethic, her calm and steadiness under pressure, and her exquisite concern for both her constituency and her colleagues.”

“I’ve never met anyone so dedicated to her profession,” said Alex Kogan, associate vice president for plant operations and Meilach’s supervisor since 1999.

Among her proudest moments: the June 4, 1999, campus picnic, when food stations and musical performances stretched from Peggy Rockefeller Plaza to the Philosophers Garden. “The thing I remember most is that the whole crew was there, and the next day everything was clean. The university could do its job,” said Meilach.

Meilach calls her crew of 58 custodians the best group on the whole campus. “The hardest part about leaving is leaving my Rockefeller family,” she says.

Last April, Meilach moved with her husband to Rotunda West, Florida, where she plans to volunteer in local schools. “If you’re with kids,” she says, “you stay young.”

“The Rockefeller archives are a wonderful window on 20th century history,” says Rosenbaum. “For me, one of the greatest rewards has been working with researchers to lead them to the parts of our collections that are most relevant for their projects.”

The Archive Center, which is a division of Rockefeller University, houses the papers of the Rockefeller Family, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund in addition to the university’s archived documents.

“Seventy-two million pieces of paper can be overwhelming. We receive publications acknowledging Tom’s assistance on a near-weekly basis and the mentoring he has provided other staff members has helped them get on their feet quickly,” says Darwin Stapleton, executive director of the Archive Center.

A summer internship at the National Archives started Rosenbaum on a career as an archivist. Before joining the university and the Archive Center, he worked at the Rockefeller Family Archives.