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Troy Moon, Pensacola State College
Pensacola State College President Ed Meadows has been named the 2020 recipient of the Grover III Robinson Award by the Rotary Club of Pensacola. The award goes to the Rotary member who best exemplifies the Rotary Club’s motto of “Service Above Self”.
The award is named for Grover Robinson III, father of Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson IV. Grover Robinson III was an Army veteran who fought in the Vietnam War and earned a Bronze Star. He also served in the Florida House of Representatives for 14 years and was a former Rotary Club of Pensacola president. Robinson III, along with his wife Sandra Robinson, died in a helicopter crash in New Zealand in 2000. The Pensacola Rotary also gives an award named for Sandra Robinson.
“It’s a humbling experience to receive this award,” said Meadows, who has been a member of the Rotary Club of Pensacola for 12 years. He has been a member of four Rotary Clubs, including Rotary Club of Pensacola, over a 30-year period. “Rotary has the motto of ‘Service Above Self’ and has done a lot of great things in the world, including the almost complete eradication of polio.” Polio eradication has been a goal of Rotary International since launching its “Polio Plus” project in 1985. The project has contributed nearly $1 billion to worldwide polio eradication efforts.
Rotary also works to provide drinking water for underdeveloped countries as well as sending medical equipment worldwide.
“It really is about service,” Meadows said. “And Rotary has done so much good over the world for so many years.”
Meadows, who has been PSC president since 2008, serves on the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Co-Lab) Policy Board, the Achieve Escambia Leadership Council. He is also a member of the Greater Pensacola Chamber Board of Directors and the West Florida Hospital Board of Trustees.
In 2017, Meadows won the Greater Pensacola Chamber’s Leader in Education Award. He has also been honored with awards for service and support by the PACE Center for Girls and many other organizations.
John Trawick, outgoing Rotary Club of Pensacola president, said Meadows is a “go to” person when needing help.
“He’s just one of the people you go to and you ask for something and he does it,” Trawick said. “He’s done so many good things in Pensacola and has helped and served with a variety of organizations.”
Trawick, a Pensacola native, said Meadows’ leadership of Pensacola State College has helped the college grow to levels many never thought possible.
“If you’ve grown up in Pensacola, you’ve watched the college change and grow dramatically,” Trawick said. “And Dr. Meadows has led the charge to make Pensacola State College what it is today.”
PHOTO: Dr. Ed Meadows with Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson IV. Meadows was awarded the Rotary Club of Pensacola’s Grover Robinson III Award, named for the mayor’s father, who passed away in 2000. Grover Robinson III was a Rotary Club president and a three-term state legislator.