Seminary of the Southwest announced recently that the recipient of the 2022 Charles Cook Servant Leadership Award will be Mr. Robert C. “Clarke” Heidrick, Jr. The award will be presented during Southwest’s annual Matriculation Evensong service that is traditionally held at the beginning of each academic year. This year’s service will be Sunday, August 28, 2022 at 5pm in Christ Chapel on the campus of Seminary of the Southwest.
The Charles Cook Servant Leadership Award was created in 2009 by the faculty to honor their colleague and Seminary of the Southwest alum Charlie Cook on the occasion of his retirement from the Seminary. Charlie’s entire ministry–from his parish work, to his time as the professor of pastoral theology, to his continued devotion to the mission of the church–has been one continuous example of servant leadership. Each Fall, another Academic Year begins, the community pauses to remember this common calling we have and to honor one who especially embodies the Christian commitment to selfless service on behalf of others.
Heidrick, a partner at McGinnis Lochridge law firm, is well-known in the Austin community and beyond for his authentic and selfless commitment to the many causes he supports. An active and long-time member of the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, he is the current Executive Chair of the Seminary of the Southwest Board of Trustees. He also serves as Chair of the Board of each of the Shivers Cancer Foundation and the Austin Geriatric Center, as Transportation Chair of the Austin Area Research Organization, and as a board member of the Lebermann Foundation. He has formerly served as Chair of the Board of Travis County Hospital District (now known as Central Health), the Capital Area United Way, the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, and St. Stephen’s Episcopal School. Clarke has been honored by the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce as Austinite of the Year, by the Antidefamation League with its Jurisprudence Award, by the Austin Bar Foundation as a Distinguished Lawyer, by SMU Dedman School of Law as a Distinguished Alumni, by the Capital Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America as its Distinguished Citizen, and by Austin Business Journal with the W. Neal Kocurek Special Achievement Award in Commercial Real Estate.
Former Austin Mayor and State Senator, Kirk Watson, said of Heidrick, “I admired him as a lawyer, but when I got to know his heart, I really came to admire him — because this was a guy that has a level of empathy and caring that is pretty extraordinary.”
For details on how to attend or view the livestream at the Matriculation Evensong service, please follow the link below:
