October 4, 2007 | Read Time: 2 minutes
The George School, a Quaker boarding and day school in Newtown, Pa., has received a $128.5-million pledge from Barbara Dodd Anderson, a 1950 alumna whose fortune comes from stock in Berkshire Hathaway, the insurance and investment company founded by Warren E. Buffett. The money will be paid out over the next 20 years.
Beginning September 30, the school will receive $5-million a year through a trust for 15 years, and then $10.7-million annually for the last five years.
Working closely with school officials, Ms. Anderson decided that $2-million of the annual $5-million payment will endow salaries for the school’s faculty and staff members, and $2-million will endow financial aid for needy students. Of the remaining $1-million, $900,000 will go for campus projects that promote environmental sustainability, and $100,000 will go into the school’s annual fund.
A Daughter’s Tribute
Ms. Anderson is a former elementary-school teacher who was married to the late John S. Anderson, president of Associated Brass Products, in Pinedale, Calif. She decided to donate the money when Mr. Buffett, a family friend, gave the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation $36.1-billion last year. Ms. Anderson decided she too wanted to donate a large amount of money during her lifetime so that she could be involved in how the money would be used, according to Anne Storch, a spokeswoman for the school.
The donor said she made the gift in memory of her father, David Dodd, an economist at the Columbia University School of Business, who had been Mr. Buffett’s professor and was later an early investor in Berkshire Hathaway. Mr. Dodd died in 1988.
“As both a teacher and a friend, I revered Dave,” said Mr. Buffett in a press release. “I am delighted that his decision to invest in Berkshire has enabled Barbara to honor both her father and the George School through this wonderful gift.”
Ms. Anderson said she also donated the money to honor the teachers who, when she first arrived as a student at the school in the 1940s, comforted and cared for her when her mother was ill.
Previously, Ms. Anderson had donated a total of $9.8-million to the George School, including $5-million for the school’s library.
