In 1999, Harvey F. Lodish ’62 made a gift of $1.5 million to the "Claiming Our Place: The Campaign for Kenyon" to endow the Harvey F. Lodish Faculty Development Chair in the Natural Sciences, a professorship aimed at attracting and retaining promising faculty members in the sciences. "A lot of us owe a great deal of where we are in life to the education we received there," said Lodish, who built a reputation as one of the nation's foremost researchers in the study of cell membrane proteins. "The fund allows young faculty members to build a student‑focused research program and put themselves in a position to get outside support for the long term," he explained.
A Kenyon trustee from 1989 to 2007, Lodish assumed a leadership role in planning the "Claiming Our Place" campaign when he served as cochair of a subcommittee that focused on the need for new science and music facilities at the College. Lodish says his support of Kenyon helped him express his gratitude for the education he, his brother, Leonard M. Lodish ’65, his daughter Heidi Lodish Steinert ’89, and his son‑in‑law Eric C. Steinert ’89 received at the College, as well as the experiences he has enjoyed as an alumnus and trustee.