Ohio Wesleyan Announces $1.5 Million Gift Commitment From 1978 Graduate
Contribution from Frank F. Quinn to Support University’s Faculty, Annual Fund, President’s Circle
DELAWARE, Ohio – Ohio Wesleyan University has received a $1.5 million gift commitment from Frank F. Quinn, a 1978 OWU graduate from Chicago. Quinn’s contribution, which is eligible for a $250,000 OWU major-gift match, will benefit the Jon E. Sanger Endowment for Faculty Support, the Ohio Wesleyan Fund, and the President’s Circle.
Quinn created the Sanger Endowment in 2011 in honor of OWU professor Jon E. Sanger, Ph.D., who taught botany-microbiology for 27 years before retiring in 1996. The endowment supports current faculty in their work to enhance global-learning opportunities and to link classroom theory with real-world experience for OWU students. Quinn’s major-gift match will support the endowment, bringing his total commitment for the Sanger fund to more than $870,000.
Quinn’s gift, which includes a $1 million estate commitment, also will support the Ohio Wesleyan Fund, an unrestricted account that supports campus operations, and the President’s Circle, a group of alumni, parents, and friends who aid the president with strategic initiatives.
“Giving back is the right thing to do,” Quinn said. “I am grateful for the education I received at Ohio Wesleyan and grateful for the mentors and friends I met there who have become part of my life. Ohio Wesleyan continues to provide transformational opportunities for students, and I want to recognize and support those efforts.”
While at Ohio Wesleyan, Quinn majored in botany-bacteriology and economics, and was a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. A current member of the university’s Board of Trustees, Quinn also has served his alma mater as an alumni admission representative, a volunteer career assistant, and a member of the Alumni Board of Directors.
Quinn later earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Illinois. Currently, he is senior vice president of UBS Financial Services Inc., an international wealth management, investment banking, and asset management company headquartered in Zurich and Basel, Switzerland. He previously has worked for both Goldman, Sachs & Co. and for Smith Barney Inc.
Quinn also has served on the board of directors of the Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights, a Chicago-based global nonprofit human rights organization dedicated to helping people “living in poverty or danger improve their lives and realize their human rights.”
Ohio Wesleyan President Rock Jones, Ph.D., said the university is honored to receive Quinn’s outright and planned gifts.
“Frank Quinn is a well-known, well-respected, and highly successful financial adviser,” Jones said. “We are honored that he continues to see the great value of an Ohio Wesleyan education and that he is committed to investing in our faculty, our students, and our mission. We are grateful for this and every contribution we receive from our alumni, parents, and friends.”
Ohio Wesleyan launched the leadership phase of its Connect Today, Create Tomorrow capital campaign in July and already has received more than $72 million in gifts and commitments. These gifts include a $3 million anonymous contribution to create the major-gift match program. The program will match 12 contributions of $250,000 or more with an additional $250,000 to support strategic campaign objectives.
Campaign co-chair Kevin J. McGinty said he is excited by the transformational potential of the fundraising effort and impressed by the generosity of Quinn and of OWU’s many enthusiastic supporters.
“As a fellow alum and Trustee, I am most grateful and appreciative of the leadership position that Frank has taken with this as well as previous gifts,” said McGinty, a 1970 OWU graduate. “This generosity, combined with his leadership and involvement on the Board of Trustees, exemplifies the giving back credo that makes Ohio Wesleyan the special place that it is.”
Priorities of the seven-year campaign include enhancing access and affordability for students through scholarship endowment; recognizing and rewarding faculty excellence and innovation; and improving the physical campus. To learn more about contributing to the university, visit owu.edu/waystogive.
Founded in 1842, Ohio Wesleyan University is one of the nation’s premier liberal arts universities. Located in Delaware, Ohio, the private university offers 86 undergraduate majors and competes in 23 NCAA Division III varsity sports. Ohio Wesleyan combines a challenging, internationally focused curriculum with off-campus learning and leadership opportunities to connect classroom theory with real-world experience. OWU’s 1,750 students represent 46 U.S. states and territories and 43 countries. Ohio Wesleyan is featured in the book “Colleges That Change Lives,” listed on the latest President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and included in the U.S. News & World Report and Princeton Review “best colleges” lists. Learn more at www.owu.edu.