September 24, 2009
N.Y. College Receives $85-Million Gift
By Maria Di Mento
The businessman Raymond A. Rich has bequeathed a 60-acre estate valued at approximately $75-million to Marist College, in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., along with a $10-million cash gift. Mr. Rich, who lived primarily in Boca Raton, Fla., died in June at 97.
Mr. Rich headed oil companies, publishing businesses, and financial institutions in his lifetime.
The college, at Mr. Rich’s request, plans to use the estate, known as the Payne Mansion, for a leadership institute to be named for the donor. In addition to the estate, Mr. Rich directed the $10-million to endow the institute.
Programs at the institute will be aimed at teaching students to develop communication, interpersonal, and social skills needed to lead global corporations and other types or organizations.
The estate is situated on the western shore of the Hudson River, across the water from the college. The mansion was built in 1905 by the Manhattan architectural firm Carrere and Hastings for Col. Oliver Hazard Payne, a brigadier general in the Civil War who founded an oil refinery.
Mr. Rich did not graduate from Marist but became acquainted with the college after he purchased the estate from the founders of Marist Collge in 1986, said Dennis J. Murray, president of the college.
Mr. Murray said he phoned Mr. Rich shortly after the businessman moved into the mansion and introduced himself and the college.
“He said ‘put me on your mailing list,’ but it wasn’t until a decade later that he became interested and involved with the college,” said Mr. Murray.
The college’s emphasis on teaching students the importance of ethics and humility were the key factors that attracted Mr. Rich’s attention.
Mr. Rich gave an estimated $2.5-million to the college anonymously while he was alive, according to Mr. Murray, who said the two men began discussing the donation of the estate in 2000.
“He once told me, ‘The key to being a successful CEO is to hire great people, be humble in managing them, and always operate with integrity. It’s not only the right thing to do, but it’s also good business. If the business leaders of today had followed his advice, I doubt the country would be in its current economic turmoil,’” said Mr. Murray.
The institute will open in the fall of 2010.
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