**Keeper of the Legacy Medal** Jim Savage is 74 years old, the proud dad of two daughters and two sons along with being the proud grandpa of four grands (with one more on the way).
He graduated from Rutgers University, College of Agriculture and Environmental Science in 1971 with a BS in Business.
He has had a rich and varied career—early on he ran two social service/healthcare programs in Newark, NJ for University Hospital, then spent 12 years as the Director of Administration with New Jersey Medical School’s Department of Neurosciences before retiring from state government to become the Founding Business/Operations Manager of a new charter school of Newark’s South Ward, KIPP TEAM Academy. From 2007 – 2014 Jim finished his career as the Research Administrator at the VA Medical Center in East Orange, NJ.
Jim has been an active volunteer at Rutgers for over 45 years. It was in 2014, as his class’s agent, that Jim proposed to his fellow officers of the Class of 1971, that they gift to Rutgers a monument in tribute to Paul Robeson. While some at Rutgers proclaimed that a bronze statue would be most appropriate, Jim and his committee members stayed true to the original vision that black granite panels with laser-etched images of iconic photographs of Paul be used along with headings and quotes. The class of 1971 and the Rutgers African-American Alumni Alliance (RAAA), Inc. would unite to complete the project which had come to be known as Paul Robeson Plaza.
Jim became a member of the RAAA in 2017 and has been working with the RAAA leadership ever since on events honoring Paul Robeson. Other projects include: The Tallest Tree in the Forest; Walking in His Footsteps; The Paul Robeson Poetry Contest; The Paul Robeson Essay Contest involving students from the Paul Robeson elementary school in New Brunswick; Rutgers Day and more. Jim is proud of past recognitions such as the Rutgers Excellence in Alumni Leadership Award; the 2017 Rutgers Volunteer of the Year Award; the Rutgers Loyal Son Award; the Committee to Advance our Common Purposes Award and now the prestigious RAAA Keepers of the Legacy Award. Jim is credited with reconnecting Susan Robeson to Rutgers; for introducing the idea of having the 2019 Year of Robeson celebration and serving as the Rutgers Community coordinator of events in celebration of the 125th anniversary of Paul’s birth. Jim considers himself blessed to have had the opportunity to serve Rutgers in so many ways.