Vanderbilt's Gift Boosts Drive Over $82.5 Million

The Program for Harvard College passed its $82.5 million goal, boosted over the top by a last minute, $2.5 million gift from Harold S. Vanderbilt '07, President Pusey stated yesterday. Pusey termed his announcement "the most momentous which has ever fallen to my lot."

Despite the drama surrounding it, however, Vanderbilt's contribution, made last week, accounted for only a quarter of the more than $10 million received by the Program since mid-November. Together, three well-timed donations brought the Program total, in cash and pledges, to $82,697,470.

In a statement released yesterday, the New York transportation executive claimed the three year drive had been "so bewilderingly successful that it had acquired an almost romantic appeal for those who love Harvard." He added that he hoped the Program's completion would help insure the success of similar campaigns at other universities, and leave the way open for the $58 million Harvard Medical Center drive "to get underway promptly."

In addition to Vanderbilt's, two other last-minute seven-figure gifts were forthcoming from wealthy alumni. The donors were Walter W. Naumburg '89, whose bequest to the Program totaled $2 million, and Lamont duPont Copeland '27, an earlier contributor, who gave an additional $1 million.

The President highlighted the significance of these recent gifts yesterday, when he admitted that in mid-November there had been "very serious doubts as to whether our efforts would succeed."

He particularly praised the members of the Program's "$100,000 Club," started last November. Thirty-five men who had given large amounts previously, but who now offered another $100,000, joined this "club."

December Key Month

The last ten days of December, according to Pusey, witnessed a "veritable flurry of gifts by men determined that the Program should succeed."

In addition to the $82.7 million in donations, another $5 million in interest and capital gains has been received from investment of Program money over the last three years. These funds, not yet allocated, bring the Program's total in-take to about $88 million.

Vanderbilt's gift to the College followed close after his $1.4 million donation toward the new Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine. A former President of the Board of Trust of Vanderbilt University, he has long been a generous donor to University projects.