Benefactors or Their Family Members
| Institution | Namesake | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Agnes Scott College, Georgia, US | Agnes Scott | George Washington Scott, Confederate general and businessman, gave $112,250 to Decatur Female Seminary (which he helped organize), which then renamed itself in honor of his mother. |
| Albertson College of Idaho, US | Joe Albertson | Grocery retailer and major donor to the College of Idaho, which changed its name in his honor in 1991, but reverted to its original name in 2007. |
| Ball State University, Indiana, US | The Ball Brothers | Founders of the Ball Corporation who bought the Indiana Normal Institute out of foreclosure and donated it to the state of Indiana. |
| Baruch College, New York, US | Bernard M. Baruch | The School of Business and Civic Administration of the City College of New York was renamed in 1953 for Baruch, a wealthy financier and devoted alumnus. The school received $9 million from his estate upon his death in 1965. |
| Bates College, Maine, US | Benjamin E. Bates | Boston financier; provided financial support for school's expansion in 1863. |
| Benedict College, South Carolina, US | Mrs. Bathsheba A. Benedict | Under the auspices of the American Baptist Home Mission Society, Mrs. Bathsheba A. Benedict of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, provided $13,000.00 to purchase the land for Benedict Institute. |
| Bennett College, North Carolina, US | Lyman Bennett | Donations from Bennett, a New York businessman, provided funds to build a permanent campus. |
| Bexley Hall (seminary), Ohio and New York, US | Nicholas Vansittart, 1st Baron Bexley | Benefactor of Kenyon College in Ohio, where Bexley Hall was founded |
| Bocconi University, Milan, Italy | Luigi Bocconi | University was founded with the help of an endowment from wealthy merchant Ferdinando Bocconi and was named for Bocconi's son, who had died in the First Italo–Ethiopian War. |
| Bowdoin College, Maine, US | James Bowdoin | Former Massachusetts governor whose son James Bowdoin III was an early benefactor of the school, which was chartered in 1794. |
| Brown University, Rhode Island, US | Family of John Brown and Nicholas Brown, Jr. | Local businessmen, the Browns were among the signers of the College of Rhode Island's original charter in 1764 and became major benefactors; it was renamed in their honor in 1804. |
| Bucknell University, Pennsylvania, US | William Bucknell | Originally the University at Lewisburg; renamed in 1886 in honor of the benefactor from Philadelphia who assisted the school during the post-Civil War recession. |
| Carleton College, Minnesota, US | William Carleton | Originally Northfield College; renamed five years after its establishment (in 1871) to honor benefactor William Carleton, who had given US$50,000 to the fledgling institution. |
| Chapman University, California, US | Charles C. Chapman | Originally called Hesperian College and later California Christian College; renamed in 1934 in honor of Chapman, the chairman of the institution's board of trustees and a principal benefactor. |
| Claflin University, South Carolina, US | William Claflin and Lee Claflin | Massachusetts Governor William Claflin and his father, Boston philanthropist Lee Claflin, provided a large part of the funds to purchase the campus for the HBCU college. |
| Clare College, Cambridge, UK | Elizabeth de Clare | Originally founded in 1326 as University Hall but suffered financial hardship; was refounded in 1338 as Clare Hall by an endowment from Elizabeth de Clare, a granddaughter of Edward I. |
| Clemson University, South Carolina, US | Thomas Green Clemson (1807–1888) | Clemson's will directed that most of his estate be used to establish a college to teach scientific agriculture and the mechanical arts to South Carolinians. |
| Coe College, Iowa, US | Daniel Coe | Farmer in the Catskills region of New York who pledged $1,500 toward the 1853 founding of the Cedar Rapids Collegiate Institute (later renamed in his honor). His pledge was made with the stipulation that the school be coeducational. |
| Colby College, Maine, US | Gardner Colby | Originally (in 1813) the Maine Literary and Theological Institution and later Waterville College, was renamed for Boston merchant Colby due to his financial support which helped the school survive during the American Civil War. |
| Colgate University, New York, US | William Colgate and family | Originally the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York and later Madison University, was renamed for Colgate (founder of the company that became Colgate-Palmolive) in 1890 in honor of nearly 70 years of involvement and service by the Colgate family. |
| Converse College, South Carolina, US | Dexter Edgar Converse | Cotton mill owner who was among the school's founders and made substantial contributions |
| Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, US | William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth | Large donor to and a leading trustee for the English trust established for the benefit of the college |
| Denison University, Ohio, US | William Denison | Local Ohio farmer who donated to the university (then Granville Theological Seminary) |
| DePauw University, Indiana, US | Washington Charles DePauw | Originally called Indiana Asbury University, renamed in 1884 in honor of DePauw's substantial donations, which totaled over $600,000 during his lifetime. |
| Dickinson College, Pennsylvania, US | John Dickinson | Signer of both the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution of the United States who was President of Pennsylvania at the time of the college's founding and who donated 500 acres (2.0 km2) of land for the campus |
| Drake University, Iowa, US | Francis Marion Drake | Endowed the institution in 1881; later became governor of Iowa |
| Drew University, New Jersey, US | Daniel Drew | Financier who endowed the school (originally Drew Theological Seminary) at its founding in 1867 |
| Duke University, North Carolina, US | Washington Duke | Name changed from Trinity College to Duke University in 1924, after tobacco industrialist James B. Duke established The Duke Endowment. The name honors the donor's deceased father. |
| Eckerd College, Florida, US | Jack Eckerd | Founder of Eckerd Drugs; donated $12.5 million to Florida Presbyterian College, which was renamed in his honor in 1972 |
| Eugene Lang College, New York, US | Eugene Lang | Originally The New School for Liberal Arts; renamed in 1985 following a generous donation by philanthropist and educational visionary Lang and his wife Theresa |
| Fairleigh Dickinson University, New Jersey, US | Col. Fairleigh S. Dickinson, Sr. | co-founder of Becton Dickinson |
| Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, Massachusetts, US | Franklin W. Olin | Founder of the Olin Corporation; College's endowment is funded primarily by his F. W. Olin Foundation |
| Grinnell College, Iowa, US | Josiah Bushnell Grinnell | Congregationalist minister and later politician who funded the move of the former Iowa College to its current site in the town of Grinnell. |
| Hamline University, Minnesota, US | Leonidas Lent Hamline | Methodist Bishop who provided US$25,000 of his own money to launch the school, founded in 1854. |
| Harvard University, Massachusetts, US | John Harvard | Young clergyman whose bequest of £779, was (in 1639) the first principal donation to the new institution, his gift assured its continued operation. |
| Hofstra University, New York, US | William Hofstra | University was established on the grounds of the Hofstra estate with funds that his widow's will designated for creating a memorial to her husband. |
| Hollins University, Virginia, US | John Hollins and Ann Halsey Hollins | early benefactors |
| Howard Payne University, Texas, US | Edward Howard Payne | A large gift from Payne (brother-in-law of one of the founders) helped to establish the institution |
| Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, US | Johns Hopkins | Hopkins, who died in 1873, bequeathed $7 million for the founding of the university and Johns Hopkins Hospital. At the time, this was the largest philanthropic bequest in U.S. history, the equivalent of over $131 million in 2006. |
| Juilliard School, New York, US | Augustus Juilliard | Named for Juilliard, a textile merchant, who bequeathed a substantial amount for the advancement of music in the United States |
| Kenyon College, Ohio, US | Lloyd Kenyon, 3rd Baron Kenyon | Lord Kenyon was one of the college's earliest benefactors in 1824. Another was Lord Gambier, whose name was given to the associated village, Gambier, Ohio. |
| Kettering University, Michigan, US | Charles Kettering | Inventor, proponent of cooperative education, and an early benefactor of the school under one of its previous names. |
| King College, Tennessee, US | James King | College was originally located on land donated by Reverend King. |
| King Edward Medical University (Kemc), Lahore, Pakistan | Edward VII of the United Kingdom | Founded as Lahore Medical College, renamed King Edward Medical College after receiving assistance from the King Edward Medical Memorial Fund |
| Kotelawala Defence University, Colombo, Sri Lanka | General Sir John Kotelawala | Established on an estate donated by Kotelawala, a former Prime Minister of Ceylon |
| Université Laval, Quebec, Canada | Bishop François de Laval | First Bishop of New France |
| Lawrence University, Wisconsin, US | Amos Adams Lawrence | Philanthropist Lawrence contributed $10,000 toward the school's founding |
| Lewis University, Illinois, US | Frank J. Lewis | philanthropist who funded the construction of many of the school's buildings |
| Macalester College, Minnesota, US | Charles Macalester | Philadelphia, PA, businessman who sponsored the institution's conversion from a school to a college. |
| University of Mary Hardin–Baylor, Texas, US | Mary Hardin | One half of a married couple whose gift to what was then Baylor College for Women saved the school from closure during the Great Depression. |
| Meharry Medical College, Tennessee, US | Samuel Meharry | Meharry was a young white man who, in 1826, was aided after an accident by a family of freed slaves. Afterward, he promised to repay their help by doing "something for your race." Fifty years later, he and four brothers donated $15,000 to assist with establishment of the medical department at Central Tennessee College; that department later became Meharry Medical College. |
| Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, England | John Brookes | Brookes was the founding principal. |
| Paul Smith's College, New York, US | Apollos (Paul) Smith | Smith amassed a fortune in real estate and other businesses after starting out as a hunting guide in the Adirondacks. His son left a bequest to start a college in his name. |
| Philander Smith College, Arkansas, US | Philander Smith | Renamed from Walden Seminary in 1882 to recognize the financial contributions of Adeline Smith, the widow of Philander Smith. |
| Radcliffe College, Massachusetts, US | Ann Mowlson | Lady Ann Mowlson, née Radcliffe, established the first scholarship at Harvard University (Radcliffe's parent institution) in 1643. The college was fully incorporated into Harvard in 1999, with the campus now serving as home to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. |
| Reed College, Oregon, US | Simeon Gannett Reed and Amanda Reed | Oregon pioneers; Amanda Reed's estate provided the endowment with which the college was founded. |
| Rhodes University, Eastern Cape Province, South Africa | Cecil Rhodes | The establishment of the university was aided by the Rhodes Trust. |
| Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Jersey, US | Robert Wood Johnson III | Originally Rutgers Medical School, received its current name in 1986. |
| Robinson College, Cambridge, England | David Robinson | British philanthropist who gave Cambridge University £17 million to establish a new college. |
| Rowan University, New Jersey, US | Henry Rowan and Betty Rowan | Formerly Glassboro State College; was renamed in 1992 after the Rowans gave $100 million to the school, at the time the largest gift to a public college. |
| Russell Sage College, New York, US | Russell Sage | |
| Rutgers University, New Jersey, US | Henry Rutgers | American Revolutionary War hero whose donations helped the college (originally called Queen's College) survive difficult financial times. |
| Shreemati Nathibai Damodar Thackersey Women's University, India | Nathibai Damodar Thackersey | Mother of Sir Vithaldas Thackersey, who made a generous contribution in her memory. |
| Spelman College, Georgia, US | Laura Spelman Rockefeller | Wife of donor John D. Rockefeller |
| Stetson University, Florida, US | John Batterson Stetson | Creator of the Stetson hat; donated generously to DeLand University, which changed its name to John B. Stetson University in 1889. |
| Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey, US | Edwin A. Stevens | His bequest helped to establish the institution |
| Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India | J.R.D. Tata | |
| Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India | Sir Dorabji Tata | Established with support from the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust; trust founder Sir Dorabji Tata was influential in establishing the Tata family's industrial endeavors. |
| Thiel College, Pennsylvania, US | A. Louis Thiel | Provided initial funding for the school in 1866, donating $4,000 that he had received from an investment in the new oil industry in Titusville, Pennsylvania |
| Tufts University, Massachusetts, US | Charles Tufts | Donated the land for the campus |
| Tulane University, Louisiana, US | Paul Tulane | Tulane was converted from a public to a private university in the late 19th century with financing from the endowments of Paul Tulane and Josephine Louise Newcomb. |
| Vanderbilt University, Tennessee, US | Cornelius Vanderbilt | Provided the institution its initial $1 million endowment. |
| Voorhees College, South Carolina, US | Ralph Voorhees | The HBCU school was originally named Denmark Industrial School after its location in Denmark, South Carolina. After donations from Ralph Voorhees, a New Jersey philanthropist, it was remamed the Vorhees Industrial Institute for Colored Youths. It later was named Vorhees School and Junior College. In 1962, it was renamed Voorhees College. |
| Washington and Lee University, Virginia, US | George Washington (and Robert E. Lee) | In 1796, while he was still President of the United States, Washington endowed what was then known as Liberty Hall Academy with $20,000, at the time the largest gift ever to a U.S. institution of higher learning. The school then became Washington Academy and later Washington College. |
| Wheaton College (Illinois), US | Warren L. Wheaton | Early donor who also was a founder of the city of Wheaton, Illinois. |
| Williams College, Massachusetts, US | Ephraim Williams | Benefactor whose estate helped to found the college in 1793 |
| Wilson College (Pennsylvania), US | Sarah Wilson | First major donor to the college. |
| Winthrop University, South Carolina, US | Robert C. Winthrop | Donor whose contribution was enough to rent the institution's first one-room building. |
| Wofford College, South Carolina, US | Benjamin Wofford | Methodist minister whose $100,000 bequest founded the college in 1854. |
| Yale University, Connecticut, US | Elihu Yale | English merchant, philanthropist and benefactor of the college in 1718, donating gifts worth £800, used to construct building called Yale college. |
| Young Harris College, Georgia, US | Young Harris | benefactor |
Read more about this topic: List Of Colleges And Universities Named After People, Institutions Named For People Associated With The Institution
Famous quotes containing the words benefactors, family and/or members:
“Most benefactors are like unskillful generals who take the city and leave the citadel intact.”
—Sébastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort (1741–1794)
“Children’s lives are not shaped solely by their families or immediate surroundings at large. That is why we must avoid the false dichotomy that says only government or only family is responsible. . . . Personal values and national policies must both play a role.”
—Hillary Rodham Clinton (20th century)
“For let our finger ache, and it endues
Our other healthful members even to a sense
Of pain.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)