In Memoriam: Vivian Pan, Graduate Center Foundation Board Member

The CUNY Graduate Center mourns the passing of Vivian Pan. A treasured member of the Graduate Center Foundation board of trustees, she died on August 13.

Elected to the board in 2015, Pan brought valued professional experience and insight to her role on the Investment and Finance Committee.

She was a founding partner and chief investment officer at Hamlin Capital Management, an investment advisory firm, until her retirement in 2018. That same year, she was elected chair of the board of directors of Studio in a School.

Prior to her career in finance and investing, Pan worked as an analyst with the U.S. Department of Energy and was a Congressional Science Fellow with the U.S. Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs. She was also a faculty research associate in the geology department at Arizona State University.

She was raised in Queens and the Bronx in an immigrant family and attended New York City public schools, according to the Studio in a School website. She received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and geology from Binghamton University, part of the State University of New York, and a Ph.D. in geology and geophysics from Yale University.

Graduate Center Foundation Board member Robert Goldstein remembered Pan as an incredible mother and wife and a dear friend. “Vivian stood out as a strong woman with incredible character and warmth who also had a great sense of humor,” he said. “I was touched when she asked me to be on the CUNY board, which has been a great experience for me.”  

“Vivian was a rare woman who had equal dignity and joie de vivre,” said Graduate Center Foundation Board member Joanna Migdal, who served with Pan on the Investment and Finance Committee. “She was an enthusiastic and talented polymath with expertise in the sciences, the arts, and investing. Vivian was both a skillful team player and a deft leader, the life of the party and humble entrepreneur. She was a good friend and, in addition to her other family roles, a truly dedicated daughter. We were all lucky to know her and to benefit from her commitment to the Graduate Center and her invaluable contributions to our investment committee. She will be sorely missed.”

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