Laurence G. Leavitt
Encyclopedia
Vermont Academy
Vermont Academy is an American coeducational boarding/day school and college preparatory school for grades nine through twelve and also offers acceptance for students seeking a post-graduate year. Founded in 1876, it is located in Saxtons River, Vermont. The school is coeducational, and...
in Saxtons River, Vermont
Saxtons River, Vermont
Saxtons River is an incorporated village in the town of Rockingham in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The population was 519 at the 2000 census. For over a hundred years, Saxtons River has been the home of Vermont Academy, an independent secondary school.The Saxtons River Village Historic...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, where he succeeded in steering the preparatory school
University-preparatory school
A university-preparatory school or college-preparatory school is a secondary school, usually private, designed to prepare students for a college or university education...
from dire financial straits to financial health by strengthening its curriculum and building its extracurricular activities.
Leavitt was born on April 1, 1903 and lived in Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Portsmouth is a city in Rockingham County, New Hampshire in the United States. It is the largest city but only the fourth-largest community in the county, with a population of 21,233 at the 2010 census...
, until he was fifteen. A graduate of Quincy High School in Quincy, Massachusetts
Quincy, Massachusetts
Quincy is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Its nicknames are "City of Presidents", "City of Legends", and "Birthplace of the American Dream". As a major part of Metropolitan Boston, Quincy is a member of Boston's Inner Core Committee for the Metropolitan Area Planning Council...
, and Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
, where he was a star fullback on the college football team, Leavitt later served as assistant headmaster at Tabor Academy
Tabor Academy
Tabor Academy is a highly selective independent preparatory school located in Marion, Massachusetts, United States. Tabor is known for its marine science courses...
in Marion, Massachusetts
Marion, Massachusetts
Marion is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 5,123 at the 2000 census.For geographic and demographic information on the village of Marion Center, please see the article Marion Center, Massachusetts.-History:...
. In 1934 Dartmouth College president Ernest Martin Hopkins
Ernest Martin Hopkins
Ernest Martin Hopkins served as the 11th President of Dartmouth College from 1916 to 1945.- Dartmouth Presidency :...
, asked to suggest a candidate for the troubled Vermont Academy, which was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, suggested his fellow Dartmouth graduate Laurence Leavitt.
During Leavitt's 25-year tenure as head of Vermont Academy, he managed to double enrollment, retire the school's debt and made substantial improvements to the school's campus.
Laurence Leavitt died at age 97 on November 30, 2000. He and his wife Dorothy (Hall) Leavitt lived for many years on Main Street in Norwich, Vermont
Norwich, Vermont
Norwich is a town in Windsor County, Vermont, United States, located along the Connecticut River opposite Hanover, New Hampshire. The population was 3,544 at the 2000 census....
, and they were longtime donors to Dartmouth College, where they established awards in field hockey and women's basketball. They also helped endow Dartmouth football's Bennett/Hall Lounge.
Leavitt received Dartmouth's Alumni Award in 1925. Dorothy (Hall) Leavitt was the daughter of Edward Kimball Hall, a Dartmouth College graduate, early American Telephone and Telegraph Company executive and later professor at Dartmouth's Amos Tuck School of Business Administration who, with his wife, donated the school infirmary Dick Hall's House to the college in honor of their son Richard Drew Hall who died as a Dartmouth sophomore in 1924.