John Berry '44, whose monetary contributions financed the Berry Library project and construction of the John W. Berry Sports Center, died at the age of 75 on Wednesday after a four-month illness.
"The ramifications of John's philanthropy to Dartmouth will be felt well into the next century," said Stan Colla, vice president of Alumni Relations and Development. "His philanthropy has changed the face of our campus."
Berry, the former chair and chief executive officer of L.M. Berry Company, a telephone directory advertising firm best known for founding The Yellow Pages, donated $25 million to the College in 1992, the largest single gift in its history.
The money, along with an additional $2.5 million donated by Berry, and funds from other sources, is being used to construct the Berry Library.
Berry also endowed the Loren Berry Professorship in Economics in 1978. Another of Berry's gifts was used to build the John W. Berry Sports Center. The center, which opened in 1987, boasts a 2,100-seat basketball arena, a dance studio and a recreation room, among other features.
But Berry's philanthropy did not stop with financial contributions. He was also honorary chair of Dartmouth's "Will to Excel" Campaign and served on committees for two other College campaigns. He was a member of the alumni council, a class bequest chairman and a member of the Trustee Resources Committee.
He was "a wonderful, generous man," College President James Freedman said. "He cared deeply about education. He loved Dartmouth. He was the largest single benefactor in Dartmouth's entire history."
Berry's commitment to the College began with the stories his uncle told him about Dartmouth and the strong alumni club in his hometown, Dayton, Ohio.
While at the College, Berry participated in intramurals and competed in bridge tournaments with fellow brothers of Sigma Chi fraternity, now known as The Tabard.
Berry left the College in 1944, just one semester short of graduation, when he was called to duty as a member of the Enlisted Reserve Corps.
Because Berry met the prerequisites for engineering servicemen, he was transferred to the Army Scholastic Training program at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Prior to joining the Corps of Engineers, he spent seven months taking classes in civil engineering.
In March 1946, with a wife and child in tow, Berry received his discharge from the Army. His engineering coursework in the Army qualified him for his Dartmouth degree.
"Because so many of my classmates went into the Army, Navy and Marines, Dartmouth didn't have a graduation for two years," Berry told The Dartmouth in 1997. "Most finished their education elsewhere, some came back to Dartmouth."
Berry's class had a more formal graduation ceremony in 1994, when they returned to Hanover for their 50th reunion, Colla said.
Berry was also awarded an honorary doctorate in 1994, he said.
In addition to his Dartmouth donations, Berry helped support Ohio State University and Rio Grande University, where a building bears his name.
Berry told The Dartmouth in 1997 that he planned to be intimately involved in the construction of the Berry Library.
"Although I'm not a designer or engineer, I want Berry to complement Baker, which is a very fine building architecturally," he said. "I'm very interested in the look of the new library. I can assure you it won't look like Bradley, Gerry or Kiewit."
The official groundbreaking ceremony for Berry Library took place on Tuesday, May 5. Berry was unable to attend the ceremony because of illness.
His son, George Berry '66, and his wife, Marilyn Berry, did attend the ceremony.
As of January, the College still needed $10 million in funds for an academic addition to the library and $5 million for the library side.
