Dartmouth received a gift of $18.1 million last week, the largest bequest in its history, from the estate of a widow whose husband attended Dartmouth for only one semester in 1937.
The bequest, which came at the tail-end of the Will to Excel Capital Campaign, will be used in part to finance the construction of a new psychology building.
The estate of Florence Moore of Centerport, N.Y., has pledged $18.1 million to the College for unrestricted use in undergraduate education. This bequest is in honor of her husband the late Lansing Moore '37 who died in 1990. Florence Moore died in 1993.
The $18.1 million is the largest bequest in Dartmouth's history and the second largest gift ever. John Berry's '44 recent gift of $27.5 million was the largest gift ever received by the College.
College President James Freedman said in a College press release that "the bequest will benefit numerous areas of the College, touch students and faculty, and truly reflect [the Moore's] genuine love for Dartmouth."
Lansing Moore only spent one semester at Dartmouth before withdrawing in 1933 after the start of the Great Depression.
Director of Development Lucretia Martin said the College has no record of why Lansing Moore left so early.
"We do know that many students left colleges and universities at that time," she said.
Martin said the College was unaware that Lansing Moore had not graduated until they received the bequest information.
"All we know is that we found in his alumni record that he only stayed for his first semester and that was the height of the Great Depression," she said.
Despite not graduating, Lansing Moore and his wife went to every reunion of the Class of 1937, Martin said.
"He came to his 50th reunion," she said. "His wife came to his 55th reunion" after Lansing Moore's death.
Lansing Moore was the president of the Dartmouth Club of Long Island and active in alumni activities.
Martin said the Moores lived modestly and had inherited their money shortly before the death of Lansing Moore.
Making a difference
Dartmouth's Board of Trustees voted to name a new psychology building Moore Hall in honor of the Moore family because of the contribution. Construction of the new building -- which will be located at the north end of campus on Maynard St. -- has already begun and is expected to be completed in the summer of 1998.
Martin said the new building would house much needed academic classrooms, offices and laboratories for the psychology department.
Two new full scholarships totaling $500,000 have been established in the names of Moore's sons -- Schuyler Moore and Scott Moore.
These scholarship grants will be distributed to needy Dartmouth students with a preference for minority students and students with learning disabilities, Martin said.
Most of the $18.1 million will be placed in an endowment, Martin said. The Board of Trustees will determine the usage of the income of the money for undergraduate education.
An unusually generous gift
Martin said while Dartmouth has received several bequests of more than $10 million, there has never been a gift of this amount.
"We have never had a bequest this large," she said. "It is a wonderful moment for Dartmouth."
Martin said both the amount of money and the lack of restriction on the usage of the money made the gift a marvelous boon to the College.
"It is really unusual in higher education for people to donate unrestricted moneys," she said. "For any university or college to get a bequest like this which the president and the provost can use to strengthen the education at Dartmouth is just remarkable and quite unusual."
"It is not only that it is the largest bequest Dartmouth has ever received, but it gives President Freedman an opportunity to make a significant difference in undergraduate education," Martin added.
The exact amount of the donation was not known until Oct. 7 -- the last day of the Will to Excel capital campaign.
"Because we were definitely told the bequest would be coming and the exact amount, we were fortunate to be able to enter it on the last day of the campaign," Martin said.
The bequest helped boost the final total of Dartmouth's money raising campaign to $568,229,430 -- more than $143 million beyond the campaign's original goal of $425 million.
"Within the five years of the campaign we had the two largest gifts we have every received -- the largest outright gift and the largest bequest," Martin said.
The total amount of money pledged to Dartmouth by the estate of Florence Moore is $20.2 million. In 1992, Florence Moore donated $2 million which enabled the College's renovations of the Hopkin's Center's Center Theater. In honor of the family, the theater was renamed the Moore Theater.
