Munificence

If key volunteers in the Campaign for Dartmouth, in town late last month for a special convocation, were in need of inspiration before heading home to convince their alumni brethren to give generously to Dartmouth's capital drive, they should have found it in the surprise announcement of the biggest single contribution the College has ever received.

Charles A. Collis '37 of Taunton, Massachusetts, has given $5 million, of which $1 million is to be used for the new college center in College Hall. The remainder is to endow an academic chair, scholarships, and other needs to be deter- mined by the donor and College officials. Virginia Collis Scholarships, named in honor of his late wife, will be awarded to undergraduates in each of the four classes, with preference to be given to employees of Collis' companies or to graduates of Taunton area high schools.

Characterized as "a modern Horatio Alger" by campaign chairman Norman E. McCulloch '50, Collis founded a shoe business directly after his graduation. It was only in the early sixties that, with one employee, he started Princess House, a direct-sales firm that does business through home parties. When the company and its subsidiaries merged early this year with Colgate-Palmolive, they had 1,000 employees and were grossing an annual $70 million from sales of glassware, boutique, and decorative accessories through 14,000 individual contractors, most of them housewives.

Collis' munificence brings the five-year, $160 million Campaign for Dartmouth to $51 in gifts and pledges approximately one year after its official inauguration.