2026 Five-Star Distinguished Alumni Award Winners Announced

Office of Alumni Engagement
September 11, 2026

Washington and Lee University is proud to announce this year's Five-Star Distinguished Alumni Award winners. These alumni exemplify leadership, service and professional excellence and will be honored during Five-Star Festival, Sept. 18-19, 2026.

Marc Bromley '71

Marcus E. "Marc" Bromley '71 graduated from Washington and Lee University with a Bachelor of Science in commerce in 1971. As a student, he was president of Sigma Nu, served on the Interfraternity Council, held a class office and played tennis. He earned an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1973.

Bromley began his real estate career that same year with the Sea Pines Company, a developer of resort communities, serving as assistant treasurer of the Amelia Island Company in Florida. He moved to Atlanta in 1976 and joined Trammell Crow Residential Company, first as chief financial officer of its Southeast operations and later as a division partner responsible for development in Atlanta, Jacksonville, Florida, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Nashville, Tennessee. His division developed more than $500 million in apartment properties.

In 1993, Trammell Crow Residential's Southeast and Texas operations merged to form Gables Residential Trust, a publicly traded real estate investment trust. Bromley served as its chief executive officer and chairman of the board through 2001, leading the company to a public offering, and continued on the board as a trustee until its $3 billion sale to ING Clarion in 2005. He retired from management that year after a career of more than 35 years in real estate.

Bromley is a former president of the Atlanta Apartment Association and a founding member of the advisory board of the Private Bank of Buckhead, an Atlanta-based community bank. In 2005, he joined the first of four Cole REIT boards, serving as nonexecutive chair of the retail and industrial operation. He served on the board of The Shoptaw Group, a multifamily company, from 2006 to 2010, and on the board of Brookdale Senior Living from 2017 to 2024. He continues to serve on the boards of Sealy Industrial Partners and Sealy Private Industrial Real Estate Trust.

Bromley has remained closely connected to W&L. He served on the Williams School Advisory Board from 1995 to 2002 and continues as an emeritus member. He co-chaired the For The Rising Generation capital campaign Area Campaign Committee from 2001 to 2003 and served on his 50th Reunion Class Committee. In 1996, he and his wife, Melissa, established the Bromley Scholarship at Washington and Lee. They live in Atlanta and have four children and four grandchildren.

William Henry "Bill" Oast III '71, '74L

William Henry "Bill" Oast III '71, '74L graduated cum laude from Washington and Lee University in 1971, where he was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon and played club rugby. He returned to W&L for law school and earned his law degree in 1974.

A native of Lexington, Virginia, Oast has practiced law for more than 52 years. He is a partner at Oast & Taylor PLC, where his practice areas include elder law; estate, trust and fiduciary litigation; guardianships and conservatorships; estate and trust administration; and estate planning. He previously served as senior partner and president of the law firm Oast & Hook.

In the 1990s, Oast became one of the first attorneys in Virginia to dedicate his practice to the emerging field of elder law. He was a founding member of the Virginia Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and served for many years on its board of directors as treasurer. He is also a member of the Virginia State Bar and the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys.

Oast's service to W&L spans three decades. He has sat on committees for both his undergraduate and law class reunions since 1995, chairing his law Reunion Class Committee twice and his undergraduate Reunion Class Committee once, and served as a W&L Fund class agent from 2023 to 2025. He served on the Law Council from 2003 to 2007 and continued as an emeritus member. He led his alumni chapter as president from 2005 to 2008 and later served as its law liaison and a board member. He mentored students as an alumni career mentor from 1997 to 2006 and as a law mentor from 2009 to 2012 and belonged to the George Washington Society from 2007 to 2017.

Oast's father and grandfather were W&L graduates, as were two uncles and several cousins, and two of his great-nieces and great-nephews have graduated in the past decade. He and his wife, Pam, remain closely connected to the university.