clayton
Chapman Plaza in Shaw Park has welcomed untold scores of visitors since the ribbon was cut earlier this month. On a recent windy Saturday, a couple chatted on a bench, dodging spray from the central fountain at the top of the hill. Several messages, exhortations, if you will, are displayed around the fountain … on paving stones, each two sentences: ‘Everyone wants to do better. Trust them.’ ‘Leaders are everywhere. Find them.’ ‘People achieve good things, big & small, every day. Celebrate them.’ ‘Some people wish things were different. Listen to them.’ ‘Everybody matters. Show them.’ Sounds like how Bob Chapman runs his company, Barry-Wehmiller, which aims to treat employees like family. (He’s written a book about that.) The revitalized corner is the brainchild of Chapman, CEO of the global capital equipment and engineering consulting company with headquarters right across Brentwood Boulevard. But it’s more than just a vast improvement in the view. Chapman, an admirer of the transformations throughout Forest Park, wanted to give back to the town where he lives and works. And he went big. The project was funded through a $4.5 million gift from the Chapman family and his company. But that’s not all; an additional $2 million from Chapman has been earmarked for project maintenance costs over the next 20 years. The plaza’s unique, welcoming beauty is thanks to Webster Groves landscape architecture firm SWT Design Inc., noted for projects with the City Garden, Forest Park Forever and the National Park Service. The Plaza serves as Shaw Park’s north pedestrian entryway, providing a link for the park to downtown Clayton. Pedestrian-friendly improvements have been made to the crosswalk at Forsyth and Brentwood boulevards as well. The plaza undulates downhill almost to the city pool. And its small pond and fountains at the bottom aren’t just pretty; the ‘water feature’ has been designed for storm water management as well. A small pavilion overlooks the pond. It, and the planned café tables upstream, will definitely make this end of the park even more accessible and inviting, a destination in itself for reflection, not to mention a convenient spot for workday lunches and weekend picnics. Meanwhile, at the top of the hill, it will be interesting to see what sorts of flora will eventually wind their way up the trellis colonnades: Grapevines would not be out of the question.

town and country
Baklava, Spanakopita, Pastitsio … if that’s all Greek to you, well, it oughta be. They are three of the popular dishes you may have had the pleasure to enjoy over a Labor Day weekend in the CWE during the annual Greek Festival. Well, why not serve some over the holidays for family and friends—without even having to prepare it! (Nobody needs to know, eh?) Plan to drop by St. Nicholas Family Life Center at 12550 South Forty Drive in Town and Country a couple of Saturdays from now (Nov. 4) for the annual Grecian Kitchen and Holiday Open House that helps support local charities. From 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. you can savor authentic Greek delicacies and pastries, sample holiday drinks (Opa!), shop the 30-plus holiday boutiques and take some dishes home to serve over the holidays. (You’ll be busy, right?) The ladies of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Ladies Philoptochos Society will be plenty busy beforehand, and all for your benefit. Plus, you’ll help them provide for children’s charities, more than a dozen of which they’ve blessed with their generosity over the years.

university city
Apparently there’s been some very good chemistry between Mark S. Wrighton and Washington University, the world- renowned research institution where he has served as chancellor for more than two decades. Wrighton, who has a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry, arrived in 1995 from MIT where he had been provost, and has announced his plans to retire in 2019. Only one chancellor has served longer: Bill Danforth at 24 years. Wrighton has expressed his desire to remain close at hand as the university conducts a global search for his successor. Wrighton, 68, has led the university through two major capital campaigns, including a $2.5 billion effort that will wind up next year. During his tenure, the university has blossomed into one of the nation’s leading centers of cancer research and patient care, and it has partnered with premier research universities worldwide to address myriad global challenges. The university has seen a more than two-fold increase in undergraduate applications, added more than 250 endowed professorships, and established programs in biomedical engineering, public health and American culture studies. Its campuses also have grown substantially during Wrighton’s chancellorship, with more than 50 new buildings completed for arts and sciences, business, design and visual arts, engineering, law, medicine, social work, and residential life. Additionally, major renovation projects are underway on both the medical and Danforth campuses, including the expansive transformation of the east end of the Danforth Campus and an ambitious, multiphase project to create new research and teaching facilities for the sciences. In 2010, the St. Louis Regional Chamber honored Wrighton with the Right Arm of St. Louis Award. He was named Citizen of the Year by the Post-Dispatch in 2007 and Humanitarian of the Year in 2000 by the Eastern Missouri Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation. A member of the board and longtime supporter of the United Way of Greater St. Louis, Wrighton will serve next year as its campaign chair. He and his wife, Risa, plan to stay put.