Gift of William D. Blatner '05 Will Aid Hopkins Center and Dartmouth Libraries

IN recent issues of the ALUMNI MAGAZINE there has appeared a section entitled "Gifts, Grants & Bequests" which has indicated the scope of gift opportunities to Dartmouth College. A recent substantial gift in trust from William D. Blatner '05 provides still another illustration of the generosity of Dartmouth alumni and of a particular way in which a donor can coordinate his giving to Dartmouth with his own personal requirements and those of his family.

Mr. Blatner has established with the Treasurer of Dartmouth College an intervivos trust in the principal amount of $400,000. The trust was established with the Treasurer rather than the College itself to provide greater flexibility in the administration of the trust and its investments. During Mr. Blatner's lifetime he is to receive the net income of the trust and if his wife survives him the net income continues to be paid to her.

On the death of the survivor the trust will terminate and will be distributed to Dartmouth College to establish two trust funds bearing the names of William D. and Besse M. Blatner. The annual income of the first fund is to be used for support of the Hopkins Center and the income of the second fund is to be used for the Dartmouth libraries. In describing his purpose Mr. Blatner has written to the Treasurer of the College stating that in this way "I am able to fulfill my wishes to perpetuate the income from the trusts where it will keep the fires burning in the Hopkins Center and the Dartmouth libraries ad infinitum."

William D. Blatner, known in his class and to his many friends in Hanover as "Bill," came to Dartmouth from Albany, N. Y. At Dartmouth he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity (now Phi Delta Alpha) and of the Dragon Senior Society. Throughout his undergraduate career he was active in music and dramatics, which included playing the cello with the Dartmouth musical clubs and arranging and producing a number of shows. After graduation he returned to Albany and then in 1910 went to Chicago where he attended the Kent College of Law and practiced his profession for more than 40 years. At his retirement he was legal counsel, executive vice president and treasurer of the Associated Retail Confectioners of the United States, and general counsel of the Associated Employers of Illinois. Most of his practice was before state and federal legislative bodies.

In 1910 he married Besse Harlow Manchester and in 1927 they moved their residence from Chicago to Geneva, Ill. Mrs. Blatner died in 1956 and four years later Mr. Blatner married Dorothy Hinchliffe and they have since resided at 400 South River Lane, Geneva.

Bill Blatner has been throughout his lifetime a bibliophile and collector of eighteenth and nineteenth century books and art. In 1956 he organized and successfully promoted the Friends of the Geneva Public Library, the membership dues to provide the Library's needs with materials it could not buy with its limited budget. In recent years both Baker Library and the Hopkins Center have benefited from his contributions of books, art objects, musical scores and orchestral instruments. He and his wife Dorothy have visited Hanover from time to time and most recently came for his 60th reunion in June 1965.

Mr. Blatner's gift in trust will provide great strength for two of Dartmouth's most significant resources, its libraries and its programs in the Hopkins Center of creative and performing arts. In thanking Mr. Blatner for his generous gift President Dickey wrote, "Dartmouth deeply appreciates your thoughtful interest in keeping the College committed to enduring excellence in both books and the creative arts. I know that both of these have enriched your life, and in turn your endowment funds will enrich these heartlands of Dartmouth's life and work for all the years ahead."

William D. Blatner '05