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North Shore Country Day honored its 2022 Francis R. Stanton ’27 recipient, author and educator Jonathan Strong ’62. The Stanton recognition is given each year during Homecoming weekend to an alum whose life work exemplifies the school’s motto, “Live and Serve.”

Jonathan has made a tremendous impact as a well respected fiction writer and published author of novels and short stories over the past 50 years. Coming from a long line of North Shore Country Day graduates, the Strong legacy began with Jonathan’s parents, Jonathan W. Strong Sr. and Anne Malinda Burnham, who met as members of the Class of 1934. Jonathan was raised in Winnetka, Illinois, where he attended North Shore Country Day, as did his aunts, uncles and cousins. He graduated in 1962 and enrolled at Harvard University where his writing career began. After graduating from Harvard, he began his career teaching fiction-writing at Tufts University, where he remains a longtime lecturer. Jonathan also taught at Harvard College, Wellesley College and University of Massachusetts. 

By the time Jonathan was 25, he had graduated from Harvard, won a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, had twice won O. Henry Awards for his short fiction stories, “Supperburger” and “Patients,” and won the Rosenthal Award from the National Institute of Arts and Letters for his first novel, “Tike and Five Stories.” Jonathan’s first short story, "Supperburger," has since been anthologized and according to literary critic James Morrison, it has become a "classic in gay fiction." Jonathan then went on to write and publish over the next four decades and is the author of 17 novels. 

In addition to writing, Jonathan has an abiding interest in 19th century opera and has written four adaptations of Gilbert and Sullivan works performed in New England. Most notably, Jonathan conducted several alumni in the summer of 1963 in a production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s last opera, “The Grand Duke.”  The performance filled 300 seats at the Winnetka Women’s Club, and Mac McCarty said, “it was the best opera ever!”

In 1998, Jonathan was Writer in Residence at Northwestern University, another distinct honor. For the occasion he wrote an essay entitled, “Home Turf, Where a Writer Feels Familiar.” The essay was written on his manual typewriter and beautifully describes how unexpected events in life can bring us together.

His impressive career, deep commitment to the literary community, and his dedication and advocacy in his writing with equity and inclusion exemplifies the school motto of “Live and Serve.”