Nov. 8, 2001

Duke University's Divinity School will receive three gifts that will add a total of $2.5 million to the school's endowment, university president Nannerl O. Keohane announced Thursday.

The gifts, which will help sustain ministerial education, reduce student debt and provide discretionary funds, come as the Divinity School celebrates the 75th anniversary of its founding.

The Duke Endowment of Charlotte will give $1 million, Duke alumni A. Morris and Ruth Williams of Gladwyne, Pa., will donate $1 million, and the Mary G. Stange Charitable Trust will contribute $510,000.

"For three quarters of a century, the Divinity School has been at the center of Duke life," said Keohane. "The continuing generosity of many donors, so wonderfully exemplified by The Duke Endowment, Morris and Ruth Williams, and the Stange Trust, will help to keep it so. Increasing the school's endowment to undergird the financial base of the school's academic programs is a very high priority for the Divinity School and for Duke. The entire Duke community is grateful."

The Duke Endowment's grant will establish the Benjamin Newton Duke Scholarship Endowment to encourage excellence in ministerial education and provide outstanding pastoral leadership for churches in the Carolinas. The fund commemorates the commitment to the well-being of Methodist ministers by B.N. Duke, son of Washington C. Duke, for whom Duke University was named, and brother of James Buchanan Duke, the university's primary benefactor.

J.B. Duke also founded The Duke Endowment, now based in Charlotte, which is one of the nation's largest private philanthropies. Its mission is to serve the people of North Carolina and South Carolina by supporting selected programs of higher education, health care, children's welfare and spiritual life.

Elizabeth H. Locke, president of The Duke Endowment, said, "We created this new endowed scholarship fund to provide a steady and permanent stream of income to help outstanding students from the Carolinas attend Duke Divinity School. It is named for Benjamin N. Duke, who cared so deeply about young people, the church and Duke University. His caring feelings live on in his granddaughter, Mary D.B.T. Semans, who has served The Duke Endowment for more than 40 years."

Half of the $1 million gift of longtime Divinity School supporters A. Morris and Ruth Williams will supplement the Benjamin Newton Duke Scholarship Endowment Fund. The other half will go to the A. Morris and Annabel Williams Fund for Parish Ministry.

The Williamses have made many gifts to Duke over the years to create the A. Morris and Annabel Williams Fund for Parish Ministry in 1983 to honor Morris Williams's parents, and the Ruth W. and A. Morris Williams Jr. Professorship in the field of parish ministry in 1988.

Morris Williams, an emeritus member of the Duke board of trustees and the Divinity School board of visitors, said, "Inspired by my parents' dedicated service to small and rural churches in North Carolina, Ruth and I are delighted to be able to contribute to the ongoing education of future ministers who will proclaim God's forgiving love."

Divinity Dean L. Gregory Jones said "these generous contributions respond to the continuing need for scholarship resources to reduce the financial burden of ministerial education. This has been a high priority for the Divinity School in the Campaign for Duke."

The third gift, from the Mary G. Stange Charitable Trust, will create a permanent resource for unrestricted support to be known as the L. Gregory and Susan Pendleton Jones Endowment Fund. It honors the service and leadership of Dean Jones and his wife, the Rev. Susan Pendleton Jones.

"Dean Jones has provided a strong vision for the Divinity School," said David C. Stone, trustee for the Mary G. Stange Charitable Trust. "The intent of the trust's gift is to provide Dean Jones, and all future deans, with completely discretionary dollars which may be used by the dean for the area of greatest need during each academic year. The gift is also intended to recognize the leadership and contributions made by Greg and Susan Jones to the entire Duke community as well as the Divinity School."

Stone is a member of the Divinity School board of visitors. His son, Jonathan, is a sophomore in Duke's Trinity College.

In 1999, the Mary G. Stange Charitable Trust established an endowment fund on medicine and Christian faith in the Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life.

The announcement of all three endowment gifts is in conjunction with this weekend's 75th Divinity School anniversary celebration and groundbreaking ceremony for a new addition to the Divinity School.

Duke Divinity School, one of seven professional schools on the Duke campus, is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. It enrolls approximately 475 students from 40 denominations.

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