The Rochester Review, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
Richard J. Wilson '42 completed his four years at Rochester as an optics student on scholarship.
The scholarship money, to him, was an important investment in what was then his future and is now his life. "Back then, $2,000 seemed like such a lot of money," he says. "I don't think I could have gotten my degree without it.
"I have been very fortunate," he says now. "In a sense, I feel I owe something back."
To repay the debt, Wilson recently made a gift of $602,000 to the University's Institute of Optics. The gift, in a charitable remainder trust, was made with no strings attached; institute administration, he says, can spend it any way it sees fit.
"Richard Wilson is a generous man who feels a certain gratitude for the solid optics career he has made for himself," says Jack Kreckel, associate vice president of development for trusts and estates. "We at the University are more than grateful to him for this generous gift."
Wilson lives in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with his wife, Patricia. He retired as president of Scientific Instruments, a division of American Optical, located in Buffalo. He began working for American Optical in 1960.
On Sept. 19, the School of Nursing dedicated its first named classroom, the Craytor-McNerney Classroom. The naming honors two alumnae and former faculty members, Josephine Kelly Craytor '46, '60W (MS) and Helen McNerney '66N (MS). Pictured above celebrating the occasion are Craytor, Eleanor Hall, director of the school from 1957 to 1971, McNerney, Nancy Whitcraft Hare '51N, '55, and Donald Hare '55M (MD).
Copyright 1997, University of Rochester
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