A recent gift from the estate of Robert P. Hubbard ’53 is one of the largest bequests Kenyon has received in its history.
The first payment of what could ultimately be a $12 million bequest just brought $4.8 million to the College, said Associate Vice President for Planned Giving Kyle Henderson ’80.
Hubbard’s gift will be directed toward scholarships and could fund as many as a dozen annually. He asked that preference be given to students from New Hampshire and students studying the fine arts.
Vice President for College Relations Heidi McCrory said, “We are thankful to Robert Hubbard for his incredible generosity that will endow scholarships for years to come. Thinking of his dedication to Kenyon and how it demonstrates the connection of generations is humbling. The support of graduates is key to the education of our future generations of students.”
Hubbard, a resident of Walpole, New Hampshire, died in November 2014 at age 84.
He was born in Keene, New Hampshire, and graduated from the Loomis School (now the Loomis Chaffee School) in Windsor, Connecticut, in 1947. He studied two years at Harvard College and then left to travel in Europe. Upon his return he transferred to Kenyon, where he majored in psychology, participated in dramatics and joined Delta Kappa Epsilon, serving as its president in his senior year.
Hubbard earned a master’s in English at the University of New Hampshire in 1974. In his career, he taught at Wilbraham Academy (now Wilbraham and Monson Academy) in Massachusetts; Wassookeag School-Camp in Dexter, Maine; and Graham-Eckes Palm Beach Academy in Florida. He spent many years as chairman of the English department at the Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida.
When he retired from teaching, he returned to the Hubbard family farm along the Connecticut River in Walpole. The farm’s Hubbard chickens became known as premier broiler stock.
In 2000, Hubbard funded an endowed chair at the College with a gift of $1.5 million. The Robert P. Hubbard ’53 Professorship in Poetry is currently held by American Book Award-winning poet Janet McAdams. In addition to covering the costs of the professorship, the gift provided monies for programs to foster appreciation and understanding of poetry in the community and for bringing visiting poets to Gambier.
Former President Robert A. Oden Jr., in discussing that gift, described Hubbard as “a deeply learned man and an acute judge of art and literature” and added, “Creative writing in general, and poetry in particular, are human gifts we deeply honor at Kenyon and ones which have been areas of strength at the College for generations. This tradition we can continue into the future in significant measure because of Bob Hubbard’s generosity.”
To learn more about making Kenyon College a part of your estate plan, contact Henderson at hendersonk@kenyon.edu.