Two Colleges Receive Gifts of $38.9 Million
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — An insurance executive’s estate has donated $38.9 million each to Samford University and Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky.
Officials at the schools said that it was the largest bequest to a U.S. educational institution since 1986.
The gift was made by Ralph Waldo Beeson, a retired executive with Liberty National Life Insurance Co. who died on Oct. 15 at age 89. He had given Samford numerous gifts over the last 20 years, officials said.
The gift to Asbury, a 67-year-old independent seminary with about 700 students, will more than double the school’s endowment.
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