Donors to Liberty U. Reveal Identity

The donors of $70-million in anonymous gifts to Liberty University over the past 12 years have stepped forward.

Beginning in 1986, Arthur Williams of Palm Beach, Fla., a retired life-insurance executive, and his wife, Angela, made several donations to support capital projects at the private Christian university in Lynchburg, Va., and to erase millions in debts that it had accumulated.

Mr. and Mrs. Williams came forward at the request of the university’s founder, the Rev. Jerry Falwell, in the hope that news of their largesse would attract donations to the university’s recently announced campaign to raise $100-million by 2005.

The donations by the Williamses came at a time when the university faced major financial problems.

In the 1980s, Mr. Falwell financed the university’s expansion with bonds issued by his Old-Time Gospel Hour television program. But as donations to the university dropped in the late 1980s, the debt incurred by those projects increased, and the bondholders, who had placed a lien on the campus, threatened lawsuits to get their money back.

The Williamses’ gifts have enabled the university to pay 83.5 per cent of the money owed to bondholders, and have helped shrink the overall debt from a high of $110-million in 1990 to $10-million today.

The couple’s donations also supported the university’s football stadium and basketball arena. Their latest gift of approximately $26-million was made in September.