Richard L. Gelb, ‘45 combined distinction in the corporate world with outstanding volunteer service in the medical and arts areas. He entered Yale with the Class of 1945, but at the end of 1942 enlisted in the Army. After three years of military service he returned to Yale to earn his degree. While at Yale, he was a member of the track team. He went on to achieve an M.B.A. with Distinction at Harvard Business School.
Gelb prepared for Yale at the Phillips Academy-Andover, where he became a charter trustee in 1976. His distinguished business career began in 1950 at Clairol. He became president of the company when it merged with Bristol-Myers and was appointed to the board of the parent company. In 1965 he moved to Bristol-Myers as executive VP, and was elected president in 1967 and CEO in 1972. In 1955 Gelb was named chairman emeritus of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Company.
He was a member of the board of the New York Times, the New York Life Insurance Company, Bessemer Securities Corporation, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and Bankers Trust Company, and he received an honorary membership to the Business Council.
In the public sector, Gelb was a board member of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the Council of Foerign Relations. He served on the board of overseers at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and was the honorary chairman of the board of managers, Sloan-Kettering Cancer Research. A founder and vice chairman of the New York City Police Foundation, Gelb served on the Board of the Citizens Crime Commission.
In 1985 he was awarded the Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. Memorial Award for his dedication to the cause of cancer control. In 1990, Gelb received the Ad Council’s Annual Public Service Award. In 1992 he received the Harvard Business School’s Award for Outstanding Leadership in both Public and Private Enterprises.
