BENJAMIN AMES KIMBALL '54

Benjamin Ames Kimball, • whose period of service to Dartmouth College as a loyal, valuable and distinguished alumnus was one of the longest in the history of the institution, died at his summer home in Gilford, on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee, July 25, 1920.

He was born in Boscawen, N. H., August 22, 1833, the son of Benjamin and Ruth (Ames) Kimball, in the eighth generation from Richard Kimball, who came to Ipswich, Mass;, from England in 1634.

He attended the schools of Concord and the Hildreth School at Derry and was a member of the first class, that of 1854, which graduated from the Chandler School of Science and the Arts, of Dartmouth College. He was the leader of that class in scholarship and received the degree of Bachelor of Science with honors. In 1908 the honorary degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon him by his alma mater.

From 1890 to 1895 Mr. Kimball was one of the Board of Visitors to the Chandler School, this period covering the incorporation of the School into the College as its "Chandler Scientific Course," in 1893.

In 1895 he was elected to the board of trustees of the college and so served until his death, during much of that time being the chairman of the important finance committee of the board, a position in which his long, wide and successful business experience was of great value to the college in helping to solve its problems of growth and expansion.

In a tribute to Mr. Kimball's memory contributed to the Granite Monthly President Ernest M. Hopkins writes: "The loss to an educational institution of such service as that which Mr. Kimball gave to Dartmouth is beyond calculation.

"He was a conspicuous member of that small group, the election of which to the board of trustees, in the early nineties, gave an increment of vitality and wisely directed energy to the college policies and adequately supported the reqonstruiction program, which President Tucker was inaugurating. Mr. Kimball's interest never lagged. His wise counsel and high-minded aspiration for the college were always available and helpful, and this was as true in regard to educational as to material affairs. He accepted the theory that the search for truth was a great function of the college and that such procedure must be adopted as best contributed to this end. His whole service was one of wholehearted love and tender solicitude for this cause to which he had committed himself.

"I should be unwilling, however, to leave this comment, without one further word, bespeaking as well the affection which Mr. Kimball inspired and held among other members of the group. Oldest in years, he was as young in spirit and courage as any man among us. All Dartmouth men have cause to bemoan his loss as a trustee. To those of us who knew him more intimately, there is added deep sorrow at the loss of a venerated associate and a valued friend."

As indicated by President Hopkins, Mr. Kimball was the oldest member of the board of trustees in years of age and of graduation and second only to General Frank S. Streeter in years of service. He was the permanent secretary of his Class of 1854, in which capacity he had recorded the deaths of all but one of his classmates, and was the oldest member of the Association of Class Secretaries with the exception of Dr. J. Whitney Barstow of the Class of 1846, the oldest living alumnus of the college. But one name appeared between those of Doctor Barstow and Mr. Kimball on the alumni roll at the time of the latter's death.

Mr. Kimball was a member of the Vitruvian Society of the Chandler School, which later became the Sigma Delta Pi fraternity and is now the Alpha Omega chapter of Beta Theta Pi.

The remarkable document, evidencing deep study and thought, which Mr. Kimball left as his last will and testament, and by which his large estate is placed in trust for future public benefit, shows plainly the place Dartmouth College held in his heart and mind.

For it provides an annual income of $6000 "to be used to establish and maintain a professorship in Dartmouth College, for the study and teaching of the science of administration, to be known as The Benjamin A Kimball Professorship of the Science of Administration, the object and function of which professorship shall be constantly to keep in contact with, and to interpret in the class room and through publications, the best procedure in administrative theory and practice, whether exemplified in the management and control of corporate industry or private enterprise, or appearing in governmental functions and practices of nations and their municipal subdivisions. While I wish and intend that a part, at least, of this work shall be incorporated into the College curriculum, in order that it may be of the widest possible influence in directing the minds of college men to the importance of the study of administration as a science, I also wish that the work shall be identified with and supplement the specialized work of the Amos Tuck School of Administration and Finance, in accordance with the ideals expressed in the letters of donation of its founder, Mr. Edward Tuck, who early saw the benefits to be derived from the application of trained minds to such problems."

The College is also to receive $4000 annually "to be used by them in improving and increasing the efficiency of the methods of teaching offered by Dartmouth College in all its departments, to the end that its students shall receive such mental training and discipline as will best develop their powers for useful and distinguished service in society; and believing that the college, with a student body not exceeding fifteen hundred, including all its departments, will best accomplish its ideals, I direct that no part of said payments shall be used for increasing the physical plant of the college other than for books and apparatus especially adapted to, and required for the accomplishment of the special object herein provided for."

The college also will receive one quarter of any surplus income which may accumulate in the trust.

The work of Mr. Kimball for Dartmouth College was but one of many useful activities with which his long life was filled to the brim.

Most widely known, perhaps, as a railroad executive, he was president of the Concord & Montreal Railroad from 1895 until its recently completed merger with the Boston & Maine system, of which he became a director. He was one of the founders, in 1865, of the firm of Ford & Kimball, iron and brass founders, for more than half a century a leading Concord industry, and also was president of the Cushman Electric Company and the Light and Power Company, of Concord, and of the Beechers Falls, Vt,, Company. He had been president since 1884 of the Mechanics National Bank, Concord, and was an incorporator and director of the Manufacturers and Merchants Mutual Fire Insurance Company.

For half a century one of the most influential men in New Hampshire public life, Mr. Kimball had little desire for personal office holding, though he consented to serve his Concord ward in the Legislature and in three constitutional conventions and in 1884 was elected to the executive council. In the same year he was a delegate-at-large to the Republican national convention. His influence had much to do with securing the appropriation for the state library building and he was one of the commission which had charge of its erection.

Across North State street, in Concord, from the state library, stands the beautiful home of the New Hampshire Historical Society, one of the many munificent gifts of Mr. Edward Tuck of Paris to the institutions of his native state. In its erection, also, Mr. Kimball had a large share, for as president of the Historical Society and chairman of its build- ing committee he had much to do with influencing Mr. Tuck to make his splendid gift, and the details of carrying it into effect were largely in his care, at Mr. Tuck's desire.

Mr. Kimball was a member of the South Congregational Church of Concord and a liberal supporter of its work and that of various charitable, philanthropic and educational agencies which he remembered, also, in his will. Notable among his other bequests was that of his spacious house and grounds, the finest in Concord, to the state of New Hampshire, as an executive mansion for its future governors.

Mr. Kimball married, January 19; 1861, Myra Tilton, daughter of Ira and Rhoda (Ames) Elliott of Sanbornton, and she survives him. Their only child, Henry Ames Kimball, born October 19, 1864, and associated with his father in business, died May 4, 1919.

BENJAMIN AMES KIMBALL '54