Sweet Briar bequests surpass $4.4 million

By Christa Desrets

Published: November 19, 2008

Sweet Briar College recently received bequests totaling more than $4.4 million from the estates of two alumnae, the school announced Thursday.

Alice Laubach, from the class of 1935, left more than $3.1 million to support the college’s science faculty.

Frances Johnson Finley, a 1937 graduate, and her husband James D. Finley II left an unrestricted gift of $1.3 million to the college.

As of the fall, the college’s endowment was valued at about $95.5 million.

“It’s an extraordinary gift for anyone, including Sweet Briar,” said Heidi McCrory, vice president for development. “We have not had a single gift of this size in two to three years.”

The college is not currently involved in a capital campaign, she said, which made the gifts all the more remarkable.

“We know Sweet Briar was a very special institution to both of these alumnae and, lucky for us, they chose to leave an extraordinary gift,” McCrory said. “It really speaks to their faith and belief that the college needs to continue to be strong in the future.”

Laubach was a business and technical librarian at the American Enka Co. in Asheville, N.C., where she lived after retiring.

Her gift goes toward faculty in the sciences, McCrory said, which could include salaries, research funds, curriculum development or other related items.

Frances Finley was a 1937 graduate of Sweet Briar. James Finley was chairman of the board of Lowery D. Finley & Co. in Virginia Beach, then a family-owned insurance agency. He practiced law and served in the U.S. Coast Guard before joining his family’s business.

The Finleys’ gift is unrestricted, Sweet Briar President Elisabeth Muhlenfeld said in a press release, so she believes they wanted the funds to benefit the entire college rather than any one part of it.

“(It’s) a testament to her sense of the value of the education she received here, and the power of the college to provide similar opportunities for women into the future,” she said.

McCrory said the school’s board of directors will decide how to use that gift in the spring.

“We always have a long list of how to use big gifts,” she said. “… We’ll use it for whatever we think will have the most impact at the time.”

The school has been working with the donors for more than a year, she said, and received both gifts within the past two weeks.

“This is their way to be a part of the future of the college,” she said.