Final Gift to School $1.25 Million Gift to Help Bolster Financial Aid
By Brett Lewis ’09
News Associate Editor
This November, the estate of Paul Mellon ’25 donated a final gift of $1.25 million to Choate Rosemary Hall, bringing his total donation quantity to over $27 million.
“Paul Mellon is the single biggest donor on campus and has had the greatest impact on the existence of Choate,” says Jim Yanelli.
Born to Andrew W. Mellon, who funded the library on campus, Paul Mellon was a student at Choate who went on to attend Yale and Clare College at Cambridge. Also reluctant businessman and avid art collector, Paul Mellon was primarily a philanthropist. He was best known for establishing the Yale Center for British Art and other facilities of the university, and Choate would not be the place it is today without his immense contributions.
This past September, the hundredth anniversary of Mellon’s birth was celebrated in the Andrew Mellon Library Reading Room. Honoring his passion for art and literature, the forty-some attendees were treated to a speech by the Curator of the Yale Center for British Art on Paul Mellon as an art collector. Several posters and portraits were put up to celebrate his contributions as both a philanthropist and an art collector.
Along with the Arts Center and Humanities Buildings, Paul Mellon was also a major donor for the Chapel, Memorial House, and the renowned Icahn Science Center. Liz Gribkoff ’09 is grateful for the wonderful facilities here at Choate: “The Art Center is such a large part of our school. The program is one of the best among boarding schools, and it’s cool how Mellon got a guy like architect I. M. Pei [to design the building].”
One drawback to depending on the generosity of a man like Paul Mellon is that Choate began to draw on its wider alumni base for donations comparatively late. Ray Diffley, Director of Admissions, said that, indirectly because of Mellon’s generosity, “We have less of an alumni base to work with.” Peer schools have not had the benefit of a benefactor on the order of Mellon, and have therefore been forced to form closer bonds among alumni.
That said, Mellon’s intense humanity is a vital part of his legacy along with his generous donations. He was a lover of art, books, and thoroughbred horses, yet it was only after his father—a highly successful businessman—died, and Paul himself had served in the military, that he began to pursue his own interests.
Although Mellon was a man of enormous privilege, he was known for being extremely shy and modest. In fact, almost all of the buildings at Choate could be named after Mellon if he had so desired. Mellon died in his home in Upperville, Virginia, on February 1st, 1999, at the age of 91.
Playing many roles was important to him, as explained in his biography Reflections in a Silver Spoon: “I have been an amateur in every phase of my life; an amateur poet, an amateur scholar, an amateur horseman, an amateur farmer, an amateur soldier, an amateur connoisseur of art, an amateur publisher, and an amateur museum executive. The root of the word “amateur” is the Latin word for love, and I can honestly say that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all the roles I have played.”
Choate certainly has been a beneficiary of his ‘amateur’ philanthropy.
