Michael Pace Named Recipient of the Patrick Henry Award

HAMPDEN-SYDNEY, VA (04/26/2012)(readMedia)-- The Wilson Center for Leadership in the Public Interest at Hampden-Sydney College has selected G. Michael Pace, Jr., H-SC Class of 1979, as the recipient of the Patrick Henry Award, recognizing his outstanding career as a dedicated public servant. The award is named for the patriot Patrick Henry, who was an early trustee of the College.

After graduating from Hampden-Sydney with a B.A. in history, Pace attended Washington and Lee Law School where he received his law degree in 1984. While at H-SC, he was a brother with Pi Kappa Alpha and captain of the golf team. He was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa, the national leadership honor society.

Today, Pace is the managing partner of Gentry Locke Rakes & Moore in Roanoke. He served the Virginia Bar Association as its president in 2008 and he has been a board member of the Virginia Law Foundation. In 2009, the Virginia Lawyers Weekly named Mike one of twenty-eight "Leaders in the Law: Statewide."

Pace has garnered special recognition across the Commonwealth for the role that he played as the founder of the highly regarded Virginia Law Foundation & Virginia Bar Association's Rule of Law Project, which has become a full-fledged nationally and internationally recognized multi-faceted rule of law education program. Pace and the Virginia Bar Association have partnered with judges, lawyers, and teachers to provide students with an enriching, interactive experience about the importance of the rule of law in their daily lives and to give them a better understanding of the need to preserve and protect due process of law as the foundation for the rights and freedoms we enjoy. The Rule of Law Project includes public and private, elementary, middle, and high schools in approximately one-third of the 136 school districts in Virginia.

In November 2009, the World Justice Project selected the Rule of Law Project as one of five international programs featured at the World Justice Forum II in Vienna, Austria. This year, the Catholic Diocese of Richmond introduced the project in each of its 29 schools. According to Pace, "There has never been a more important time to teach our children and remind adults why our uniquely republican democratic form of government has endured for over 200 years, and that the rule of law must be preserved and protected in order for it to continue."

In addition to his work with the Rule of law Project, Pace serves on the boards of LEAD Virginia, the Business Leadership Fund, the Business Council, the Roanoke Regional Partnership, SunTrust Advisory Board, and other civic and charitable boards. He is a trustee of Hampden-Sydney College and a past president of the Hampden-Sydney College Alumni Association. He serves as an adjunct professor at Roanoke College.