The
F. W. Olin Foundation was founded in 1938 by
Franklin W. OlinFranklin Walter Olin was the founder of the Olin Corporation.He was born in Woodford, Vermont into a modest family; his father built mills and waterwheels. He studied civil engineering at Cornell University, where he also played baseball; he would play as an outfielder in the American Association...
.
The first management team of the foundation consisted of only three men. Charles L. Horn, a Minneapolis businessman and president of Federal Cartridge Corporation, James O. Wynn, a prominent New York City tax attorney; and Ralph Clark, a financial consultant. The three became affectionately known as “the three musketeers.”
By the mid-1970s, the era of Horn, Wynn and Clark was ending, and the torch was passed to a new generation of board members.
The
F. W. Olin Foundation was founded in 1938 by
Franklin W. OlinFranklin Walter Olin was the founder of the Olin Corporation.He was born in Woodford, Vermont into a modest family; his father built mills and waterwheels. He studied civil engineering at Cornell University, where he also played baseball; he would play as an outfielder in the American Association...
.
The first management team of the foundation consisted of only three men. Charles L. Horn, a Minneapolis businessman and president of Federal Cartridge Corporation, James O. Wynn, a prominent New York City tax attorney; and Ralph Clark, a financial consultant. The three became affectionately known as “the three musketeers.”
By the mid-1970s, the era of Horn, Wynn and Clark was ending, and the torch was passed to a new generation of board members. The transition in leadership began in 1974 with the election to the board of Carlton T. Helming, an officer of Federal Cartridge Corporation, and Lawrence W. Milas, a law partner of Mr. Wynn. At about the same time, William B. Horn, Charles L. Horn’s son, joined the board.
By the mid-1990s, the Foundation has an impressive record of success in promoting innovation in higher education.
The foundation donated buildings to numerous college campuses, often for
businessA business is a legally recognized organization designed to provide goods and/or services to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, most being privately owned and formed to earn profit that will increase the wealth of its owners and grow the business itself...
or
engineeringEngineering is the discipline, art and profession of acquiring and applying technical, scientific and mathematical knowledge to design and implement materials, structures, machines, devices, systems, and processes that safely realize a desired objective or inventions.The American Engineers' Council...
use.
Led by foundation President Lawrence W. Milas, F.W. Olin Foundation announced its plans to create a new engineering college. The board was prepared to establish and fully fund the new college with a major gift, today estimated to be worth $400 million; the college offers an outstanding engineering education to top students at little or no cost.
In 1997, the F. W. Olin Foundation chartered
Franklin W. Olin College of EngineeringThe Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering is a private undergraduate engineering college located in Needham, Massachusetts , adjacent to the Babson College campus. Olin College is noted in the engineering community for its youth, small size, project-based curriculum, and large endowment funded...
in
Needham, MassachusettsNeedham is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. A suburb of Boston, its population was 28,911 at the 2000 census. The population as of August 10, 2008 is 31,834.- History :...
, a private undergraduate
collegeCollege is a term most often used today to denote degree awarding tertiary educational institution. More broadly, it can be the name of any group of colleagues, for example, an electoral college, a College of Arms or the College of Cardinals...
. The remainder of foundation funds have been donated, in several grants, to the college's
endowmentA financial endowment is a transfer of money or property donated to an institution, usually with the stipulation that it be invested, and the principal remain intact in perpetuity or for a defined time period...
.
Also in 1997, the F.W. Olin Foundation awarded a $50 million grant to
Florida Institute of Technology. The grant was used by the university to fund part of the construction costs of the F.W. Olin Engineering Complex and the F.W. Olin Life Sciences Building. The foundation later awarded another grant to FIT for some of the construction costs of the
F.W. Olin Physical Sciences Building.
Information from FW Olin Foundation website.
In the year 2000, the Board of Trustees of the Olin Foundation began to implement a gradual phaseout plan, which led to its ultimate closure in November 2005.
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