AUTHOR NICHOLAS GAGE TO SPEAK AT COMMENCEMENT

(Worcester, MA – April 26, 2004) Nicholas Gage will serve as the featured speaker at Worcester State College’s 128^th Commencement at 1 p.m., on Sunday, May 16, 2004 at the Worcester Centrum Centre. Worcester State College will confer 833 undergraduate degrees and 177 master’s degrees at the ceremony.

Nicholas Gage has written many widely acclaimed books. Educated in the public schools of Worcester, he received his undergraduate degree from Boston University’s School of Public Communications and his master’s degree from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. He worked as an investigative reporter for the Associated Press, The Boston Herald Traveler, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times. At that time he wrote Bones of Contention and The Bourlotas Fortune.

In 1980 he left the Times to write Eleni, the story of his mother’s life and tragic death. Eleni has been translated into sixteen languages, was nominated as the best biography by the National Book Critics’ Circle and was awarded the Heinemann Prize for best book of 1984 by the Royal Society of Literature of Great Britain. The motion picture, Eleni, was released in 1985. His next book, A Place for Us, a sequel to Eleni, was widely praised. His other books, Hellas, Greece—Land of Light, and Greek Fire: The Story of Maria Callas and Aristotle Onassis have also been critically acclaimed. He lives with his wife, Joan Paulson, also a writer, in North Grafton, MA.

Gage will be awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters along with Dr. A. Jane Fitzpatrick Kilroy of Worcester for her pioneering role as a woman in medicine and her contributions to public health education. The Community Service Award will be given to Fairman and Polly Cowan of Worcester for their outstanding volunteerism and service to the community.

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