$3-Million Leverone Bequest

Dartmouth College is to be the recipient of an estimated $3-million from the estate of Mrs. Martha leverone, the late widow of Nathaniel Leverone '06, Chicago industrialist, philanthropist, and dedicated alumnus, gave the funds to build the Leverone Field House at Dartmouth. It is one of the largest individual bequests ever made to the College.

Mrs. Leverone, former Martha Ericsson whose father. the late John Ericsson, had a key ole in the development of Chicago's Lake Shore Drive, died last fall, three and a half years after the death of her husband.

Born in Wakefield, Mass., and brought up in Keene, N. H., Mr. Leverone was graduated from Dartmouth College with Phi Beta Kappa honors, but adopted Chicago as home after founding there in 1929 the Automatic Canteen Company to pioneer in the modern development of the automatic merchandising industry. He also for several years was chairman of the board of the Kansas City Athletics. Among his many civic activities, he was a life member of the Chicago Crime Commission and chaired that group at the time it mounted a major attack on organized crime and Al Capone's power was broken.

Mr. Leverone maintained close ties with Dartmouth throughout his life, and attended every Dartmouth-Harvard football game from 1902 to 1968. He also faithfully attended class reunions and for nearly 25 consecutive years came back to lecture at Tuck School. In most of these travels back to Dartmouth, he was accompanied by his wife who came to share her husband's affection for the College.

The 1962 gift of $1.5-million for the field house plus the $3-million now left to the College by the Leverones constitutes one of the largest total amounts given to Dartmouth by a single family. The $3-million is coming in part from a bequest by Mrs. Leverone and in part from the distribution of funds from several trusts which were set up by Mr. and Mrs. Leverone during their lifetimes and are now terminating.

By authorization of the Dartmouth Trustees, $750,000 of the $3-million gift from the Leverones will be advanced to complete the funding for the new $3.75million ice arena and auditorium described elsewhere in this issue.

The Trustees directed that the remainder of the bequest be placed in quasi-endowment to provide for the annual maintenance of the Leverone Field House.