Alfred R. (Ted) Ruhly, retired chairman of Maersk Inc.; Michael J. Sacco, who heads the Seafarers International Union (SIU), and Distinguished Alumnus Commodore Leroy J. Alexanderson will all be honored by the Maritime College at Fort Schuyler Foundation on March 31, 2001 at the New York Hilton.
Ruhly began his transportation career in the trucking industry in 1950. After 22 years he joined Maersk Inc. as vice president of Marketing and Sales. In 1974 he was named executive vice president and two years later, president. In 1993, Ruhly was named chairman of the Board of Maersk Inc., a position he held until 1999. He also served as chairman of the Board of
Maersk Line Ltd. from 1983 to 1997.
Sacco has been President of the SIU since 1988, representing a federation of 18 autonomous unions with 80,000 merchant mariners, industrial, government, and service employees.
Commodore Alexanderson commenced his seagoing career with Isthmian Lines. In 1934, he joined U. S. Lines, beginning a career with the cruise carrier that would span a lifetime. He entered the U. S. Navy in 1939 and was a combat officer participating in the invasions of Saipan and Okinawa, as well as other naval activities in both the Atlantic and Pacific for seven years.
Rejoining U.S. Lines, Alexanderson, who will receive the USS St. Mary's Medal, sailed on a variety of vessels until 1955, when he was assigned to the superliner SS United States and was named Commodore in 1964. He sailed the vessel to its decommissioning berth in Norfolk in 1969, and was subsequently assigned to SS American Legion until his retirement in 1976.