The Stetson Reporter

\Vol.83 Saturday, October 3, 1970 No. 5 Mrs. DuPont Dead At 86 Stetson Benefactor Dies Mrs. Jessie BaU duPont, the widow of Alfred Irenee duPont, died Sept. 26 at her Wilmington, Dela. home. She was 86 years old. According to a statement given by her secretary, Mrs. DuPont died of pneumonia. Mrs. DuPont, a resident of JacksonviUe, had been confined to the DuPonts' Delaware estate since 1966 when she suffered a broken leg in a faU. She was Florida's foremost philanthropist, having spent the past thirty-five years carrying out the phUanthropic desires expressed by her husband in his will. Mi*. DuPont. who died in 1935. held a firm beUef in the rich man's responsibility to society. In his wiU, after providing for the members of his family, he made provisions for what he considered his humanitarian obligations. The remainder of his estate went to the founding of The Nemours Foundation, a perpetual trust for the benefit of curable crippled children and destitute old people. It was these humanitarian interests expressed by her husband that Mrs. DuPont has administered for the past three and a half decades. Besides administering the distribution of her husband's fortune, Mrs. DuPont was an extremely influential force in the development of the DuPont's Florida interests. She increased the number of Florida National Banks from one at the time of her husband's death National Petition Com Organizes Oct. Drive The National Petition Committee is now in the process of organizing a massive, nationwide, anti-war fund raising drive. The drive wiU be held in early October, and will be launched from one hundred campuses across the country on a single weekend. Its goal will be to raise ten million dollars and twenty million signatures in order to establish an enduring and effective anti-war. fund. That fund will be used primarily to bring to the American people what we hope will .be the" most effective anti-war campaign ever produced for television. The exact nature of that campaign is still in the planning stages. However, the planning is being done with the help of some of the best advertising and public relations professionals. We are in consultation with David Reider (of the famous N.Y. Times anti- ABM ad: "From the Folks Who Brought You Vietnam") and David Garth, John Lindsay's media consultant who just ran Richard Ottinger's successful primary campaign for the New York Senatorial race. While the planning and organizing for the fall gets under way, several other NPC activities are in operation. University of Rochester students are now running canvasses in many localities on their own initiative. Individual citizens and groups are sending in smaU amounts of money and signatures to us everyday from everywhere. Several teams of field representatives from the NPC will be helping local groups run canvasses in Boston, Providence, St. Louis, and Detroit. Money raised in some of these efforts will be used to pay for anti-war TV and Radio advertising in the area in which the money was raised. Beginning June 29, a 60 second anti-war spot ran for two weeks on Rochester TV during prime time. Produced by Reider, it featured General Wallace Ford speaking out against the war. We plan to use this with radio and other TV spots in the areas where summer canvasses are being prepared. All these efforts, taken together, should raise our national total of $76,000 to weU over $100,000. But this is only part of the fund that we need to launch a serious media effort. In the faU, we expect the drive to take the following form. Students, faculty, and. other citizensfrom all over America will gather at noon, October 3, on college campuses and public places to hear speeches against the war. In each case, there wiU be a speaker from labor, business students and faculty. Following brief speeches, cars wiU carry teams of students and others into the community, where the canvassers wiU go door-to^loor . seeking signatures and speaking to people about the war. Each team will be asked to obtain an average of at least 50 cents per signature. Based on our experience, this much and more can be solicited with each signature. The Saturday drive will be followed by a second major push on Sunday in which teams will canvass at churches and others wiU go to areas not covered by the original canvass. Major efforts are being made this summer to build the nucleus of faculty and students on each of at least 100 campuses across the nation to lead the drive in their respective communities. _ The drive, tentatively entitled the National Peace Petition Week, wiU be supported by the National Coalition for a Responsible Congress., This coalition includes, in addition to the National Petition Committee (Rochester), the Movement for a New Congress (Princeton), the Universities National Anti-War Fund (Harvard-MIT), the. Continuing Presence in Washington (Dartmouth), and the Academic and Professional Alliance (Columbia). The media campaign will seek to affect the November elections by creating an anti-war constituency, but it wUl extend beyond November. MiUions of Americans must be exposed to the tragedy and destruction in Indochina on a regular and repeated basic. If we realize our goals, money wiU be set aside for the estabUshmentof a permanent national anti-war organization. Part of the funds collected in local areas (300) wiU be used to defray the expenses of local organizations and other local anti-war groups. The only restriction on the use of funds is that they cannot be given directly to political candidates. to thirty at the time of her own death. She was responsible for the realization of her husband's dream of a paper company at Port St. Joe. The St. Joe Paper Company is now one of the leading industrial plants in the Florida panhandle. Mrs. DuPont was also responsible for the development of the Florida East Coast RaUway — another DuPont holding — from 1935 until its merger with the Seaboard Coastline Railroad. As weU as being the vehicle for the enactment of her husband's phUanthropic wishes, Mrs. DuPont was a philanthropist in her own right. Being a former schoolteacher, she showed genuine concern for education and gave heavily to educational institutions. She also gave twelve per cent of her annual salary to various organizations for the care and treatment of crippled chUdren. Mrs. DuPont was given honorary degrees in recognition of her contribution to the field of education by Stetson University, The University of The South, Washington and Lee, Centre CoUege, Rollins College, The University of Delaware, The CoUege of William and Mary, and JacksonviUe University. At least two Universities — Stetson University and the University of Florida—have named buUdings in her honor. Mrs. DuPont, one of America's leading women in the world of finance, held the foUowing offices: Director of The Florida National Banks; Chairman of the Board of the St. Joe Paper Company; President of the Nemours Foundation; Vice-President of the Alfred I. duPont Institute: Trustee of the estate of Alfred I. duPont; Trustee of Stetson University; Vice-President of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; President of the Alfred I. duPont Radio and Television Awards Foundation. She was also the first woman to serve on the Florida Board of Control, now known as the Board of Regents. She is survived by a brother, two sisters, and an adopted daughter. As the annuities established by Mr. DuPont are fulfiUed, the remainder of the vast Alfred I. duPont estate wiU go to the Nemours Foundation. What provisions Mrs. DuPont has made for the distribution of her personal fortune are as yet undisclosed. See Related Article—P. 2 Edmunds At DuPont Funeral In conference with President Johns the Reporter learned that ChanceUor Edmunds attended the graveside services for Mrs. DuPont. He was there as the official representative of Stetson University. The services were held at 2:00 p.m., Monday, September 28, 1970, on the grounds of Mrs. DuPont's Delaware estate, "Nemours". It was a dignified service attended by a small group of very close friends. She was laid to rest next to her deceased husband who died in 1935. Upon learning of the death of Mrs. duPont, President Johns made the following statement: "Stetson University has lost a great friend and benefactor. Mrs. duPont was an individual who devoted her adult life to assisting those in need. Her monetary contribution to charities can be measured in millions of dollars — primarily for educational institutions, needy students, the care and cure of.. cuippled children and the care of destitute aged. We at Stetson are particulary grateful for the life of Mrs. duPont. She has been a member of the Board of Trustees since : Feb., 1939 and was our largest benefactor. Her contributions to faculty salaries scholarship funds endowment, library book acquisitions, and to the construction of the library buUding itself has helped make it possible for Stetson to reach its present status of academic excellence. Without her assistance, we would have been unable to acquire and . keep many of our present faculty members. Certainly this University will miss her. However, she has left a legacy that will live on our campus forever."