Dexter C. "Ted" Tight, 1948
B.A., Denison University, 1948
LL.B., J.D., Yale Law School, 1951
President
Dexter C. Tight & Associates
Sam Bruno, CA
Citation awarded June, 2011
After six years with a prestigious law firm in San Francisco, Ted was recruited by one of the firm’s clients to help his firm be liquidated. He then joined Schlage Lock Company as general counsel and vice president of public relations. When it was sold to Ingersol Rand, Ted joined The Gap, Inc., as general counsel and subsequently as vice president international, helping to open a total of 60 stores in Canada, England and France. He retired in 1990. Still with lots of energy, he joined The Nature Company as general counsel for five years.
Ted has worked tirelessly for the betterment of his beloved San Francisco and its Peninsula: president of the San Francisco Junior Chamber of Commerce; chair of the Save Lowell High School Committee; president of the San Francisco Boys and Girls Club; chairman of the executive committee of Boy Scout Troup 14; vice president of The Guardsmen; vice president of the Bay Area Commonwealth Club; board member of the Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula; and board president of the University of California’s eye research organization, That Man May See.
Six generations of Tights have attended Denison, starting with his great-grandmother, and three of his four children are Denison graduates. Currently, a grandson is a freshman. As a student, he was a co-chair of the committee to recommend a new form of student government for the approval of the students, faculty and president, after which he was elected president of the student body. He was a member of the Freshman PHI Society, Phi Beta Kappa, Omicron Delta Kappa, and president of the Beta Theta Phi fraternity.
Ted takes his appreciation for and responsibility to the University seriously, leading by example in the allocation of his time and resources. His volunteer service spans decades. He joined the Denison Board of Trustees in 1978, retiring to Life Trustee status in 1999. Other service includes: DART, President’s Associates volunteer, reunion committees (including his 50th), career advisor and member of presidential search committees. Ted and his wife, Betty, are the unofficial Denison ambassadors to all alumni in the Bay Area.
Ted is a committed and successful fundraiser for Denison. The Tight Family Chair in the Physical Sciences was established during Denison’s 150th anniversary campaign (1981). He took the reins as national chair of The Campaign for Denison, 1988-1994, raising $77.7 million, the largest campaign to date and the genesis of the Mitchell Center and Olin Science Hall.
We honor Ted Tight ’48 for his unwavering devotion to the College, his untiring volunteer service, and the sterling example of a lifelong curiosity about everything!
