Word: stillmans
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...their part, Harvard lawyers say the agreement was not that specific--that while Stillman did intend his money to see to Black Rock's upkeep, what he really wanted to support was Harvard forestry generally. In this context, they explain, the plan to shift the $2.4 million to the Petersham account is entirely ethical. Harvard's attorneys also consider the trust, which was established in 1940, and the forest, which was transferred to Harvard in June, 1950, six months after Stillman dies, technically separate gifts, and say the University has no responsibility to keep the money and the forest together...
...crux of the dispute centers around what exactly Stillman had in mind when he established the roughly $1.2 million trust in 1940. John S. Stillman '40, his son and the executor of his estate, contends that his father and Harvard agreed that the trust would finance Black Rock, with any surplus going to the Harvard Forest in Petersham, Mass. The younger Stillman concedes that there are no written, legal contracts to this effect, but claims his father had extensive correspondence and numerous oral agreements with Harvard President James B. Conant '14 and Treasurer Paul Cabot '21 where that was made...
Except the most important one By keeping the $2.5 million kitty for itself, Harvard is stabbing Stillman in the back. Stillman chose to donate the forest, a mountainous plot on the Hudson River which sports a reservoir and six ponds, to Harvard partially because he was fond of the University. But Stillman mostly chose Harvard because he thought he could trust the University to care for the land and provide the necessary stable environment for forestry and botany experiments. Now Harvard would pull out the money to keep the site in proper shape, and the consortium would have to already...
...University now faces an investigation by the New York Attorney General to see if its attempt to keep the endowment, which is linked to the forest, is legal. And Stillman's son and another Hudson Valley environmentalist are threatening a lawsuit if the University doesn't back down...
...responsibility for the forest, it should produce the documents which show that retaining the $2.5 million endowment is in keeping with the letter--and the spirit--of the original agreement. But right now, most signs seem to indicate that the University has an obligation to turn over the endowment Stillman hoped would preserve his gift...