Economy & Economic Development  November 24, 2014

CU-Boulder receives $6M gift, largest for school in 7 years

BOULDER – The University of Colorado Boulder announced Monday that it has received a $6 million estate gift to the economics department and College of Music, marking the largest gift the campus has received since 2007.

Alumnus Eugene D. Eaton Jr., who died last year, left CU the money in his will to endow two faculty chairs and create a travel sabbatical program for economics students.

Eaton earned three economics degrees from CU, graduating with a bachelor’s in 1965, a master’s in 1967 and a doctorate in 1971. He went on to a career as a consultant in Alaska. But he was also an avid music fan, having attended several concerts at the College of Music while a student at CU.

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Both economics and music will receive $2.36 million endowed faculty chairs through the gift. The gift to the College of Music will establish an endowed chair of Baroque music, and marks the college’s fifth gift of more than $1 million in the last 18 months.

The other $1.36 million portion of Eaton’s gift will endow the travel sabbatical program, in which undergraduate economics students will be able to “broaden their knowledge of the marketplace in a culture other than their own,” a CU media release said.

“This cross-disciplinary gift from an alumnus who remembered us in his will is leaving a legacy for generations of students,” CU chancellor Phil DiStefano said in a statement. “Bequests like this shape the future of CU-Boulder and we are grateful.”

BOULDER – The University of Colorado Boulder announced Monday that it has received a $6 million estate gift to the economics department and College of Music, marking the largest gift the campus has received since 2007.

Alumnus Eugene D. Eaton Jr., who died last year, left CU the money in his will to endow two faculty chairs and create a travel sabbatical program for economics students.

Eaton earned three economics degrees from CU, graduating with a bachelor’s in 1965, a master’s in 1967 and a doctorate in 1971. He went on to a career as a consultant in Alaska. But he was…

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