May 2000

President George Dennison conferred the honorary Doctor of Fine Arts on film producer Gerald R. Molen and the honorary Doctor of Business Administration on Joe Reber, construction entrepreneur and former chair of the Montana Board of Investments.

Both candidates hail originally from Montana -- Molen from Great Falls and Reber from Butte -- and now, years later, both reside part of the year in Bigfork. During the intervening years, however, their lives took vastly different turns.

Molen left Montana for California with his family at age 12 and went to work part time at his father's lunch counter and hotdog stand. There he came into tantalizingly close range of famous actors, directors and producers who frequented his father's establishment during breaks from work at the movie studio across the street.

Bitten at a young age by the movie industry bug, Molen took his first industry job as a truck driver for Republic Studio. From that he slowly moved up the production ladder at various studios to become the producer -- with Tri Star and Universal -- of "Hook," "Jurassic Park" and "Schindler's List," which won 15 awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1993. Along the way he worked on "Tootsie," "A Soldier's Story," "Rain Man" and "The Color Purple," among many others.

Over the years he's found time to give talks at UM and spend hours with students in the media arts and drama/dance programs, commuting from his home in Las Vegas, where he lives most of the year. He also serves on UM's Media Arts Advisory Board and works with the McLaughlin Research Institute in Great Falls.

Reber is the third of nine children born to a copper miner and a newspaper reporter. Forced to leave school at age 14 after his father's death from "miner's consumption," he worked for the Work Projects Administration (WPA) while attending trade school for pipe welding.

Later, after serving in the Merchant Marine during World War II, he opened a plumbing shop in Helena that grew to become the Reber Co., one of the West's largest mechanical contractors. The company's projects included large subcontracts on the Minuteman and Polaris Missile systems.

Reber also has a distinguished record as a public servant. He served in the Montana Senate, where he took the lead in establishing the State Vocational-Technical Education Program. He played a significant role in calling for the Constitutional Convention that produced the Montana Constitution of 1972.

Finally, he served under two governors as chair of the Montana State Board of Investments. In that post he was instrumental in getting the financial backing that helped Montana Resources to reopen the mine in Butte, Montana Rail Link to reopen the Rebuild Center in Livingston, and the aluminum plant in Columbia Falls to continue operating. Reber now lives part of the year in Indian Wells, Calif.

"In my view, these two candidates, in very different ways, embody the reasons that we confer honorary doctorates," Dennison said. "Even so, they have in common the wonderful example they set for young people to emulate."

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