Divinity School Raises $5 Million For Additional Endowment Funds

A five-year campaign to add to the endowment funds of the Divinity School has reached its goal of $5 million, John Lord O'Brian, '96, chairman of the campaign's national committee announced yesterday.

An additional $1 million has been provided by the Corporation out of general University funds. The money had been promised by the Corporation when the plan to build a "new center of religious learning" was proposed in 1952. The new money brings the Divinity School's endowment funds to about $7 million

Working with O'Brian on the committee to strengthen the school were H. Irving Pratt '26, national vice-chairman; Graham B. Blaine '17, Chairman of the Executive Committees; Walter H. Trumbull '15, vice-chairman of the Executive Committee, and Gordon Huggins '29, Executive Secretary.

"Thanks to the dedicated interest of these men, and hundreds of others," President Pusey said yesterday, "the Harvard Divinity School is again an important center of religious studies. A distinguished faculty and a growing body of students have given new vigor to the consideration of man's deepest questions, and to the contemporary problems of pastoral care."

The move to strengthen the school was initiated in 1944, when the Overseers' Committee to visit the Divinity School reported the need for a "robust and active" school. O'Brian was appointed to head a committee of religious and civic leaders, who made plans for creating the "new center of religious learning."

The corporation also joined in the movement by appointing Rev. Dr. Douglas Horton as Dean, and adding several distinguished theologians to the faculty.

Three new chairs have already been created by donors to the fund. Friends of O'Brian have contributed to the creation of a professorship bearing his name, while the Corporation recognized the services of the late Mrs. Thomas W. Lamont by naming a chair in her honor. The third is the Edward Mallinckrodt, Jr. Professorship, announced last week.

In a letter sent last week to contributors to the fund, O'Brian said that "although the Divinity School must continue to grow and will later doubtless need additional endowment, the $7 million represents the achievement of our immediate goal and we can rejoice that our campaign is over."