Dartmouth Tuck Receives Its Biggest Outright Gift Ever: $37.5 Million
Glenn Britt, a 1972 graduate of the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, and his wife Barbara Britt, shown here on a cruise in Europe in 2012, left a bequest that will enhance undergraduate financial aid awards and fund scholarship support for Tuck students. Tuck photo
Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business on Monday (March 25) announced that a bequest from the estate of Glenn and Barbara Britt amounts to at least $37.5 million, and possibly more. No matter what, it’s the largest outright gift in school history.
Glenn Britt, a 1971 graduate of Dartmouth and 1972 grad of the Tuck School, was the CEO of Time Warner Cable and a former member of Tuck’s Board of Advisors. He died in 2014. His wife Barbara died in August 2023, triggering a gift of $150 million to the college, of which Tuck is slated to receive 25%, which comes to $37.5M.
But the amount could be more. The estate has not been fully settled and won’t be until sometime in fall 2024, meaning the total gift will likely be greater than $150M — and therefore the amount allocated to Tuck will grow, too.
MBA CLASS OF 2026 WILL BENEFIT FROM GIFT
Even if the gift does not grow, it is already the largest outright gift in Tuck history — though not the biggest amount pledged to the B-school. That distinction goes to an anonymous pledge of $52.1 million that Tuck received in 2022 to endow a recurring summit that convenes global leaders from the private and public sectors, including academic researchers and students, with the goal of inspiring action.
The Britts’ gift to Tuck, however, comes with no caveats — it’s not a pledge but a bequest. It will entirely support scholarship funding, helping the school to enroll talented students with financial burdens — a priority of the school, which last fall enrolled 19% first-generation students in the MBA Class of 2025. The first group of Tuck students to benefit from the Britts’ gift will be the upcoming class of 2026.
The school will permanently establish the Britt Scholars program in the couple’s honor.
“At Tuck, Glenn and Barbara especially loved spending time with students,” Tuck Dean Matthew Slaughter wrote in an email message to the Tuck community announcing the Britts’ gift. “That is why scholarships will be their ultimate legacy.”
TUCK COMMUNITY TO BE ‘EVER GRATEFUL’ FOR GIFT
The Britts’ total bequest to Dartmouth of $150M is the largest in the college’s 255-year history. Dartmouth says with the funds it will double its current income threshold for a “zero parent contribution” for undergraduates, from those with an annual income of $65,000 with typical assets to $125,000 — which it calls “the most generous threshold in the nation.”
Glenn Britt was president and CEO of Time Warner Cable from 2001 to 2013, a period during which the firm’s profits grew from $6 billion annually to $21 billion. He and Barbara were long-time supporters of Dartmouth and the Tuck School; among their other gifts and support for the B-school, they helped to establish the Britt Technology Impact Series within Tuck’s Center for Digital Strategies, a program with which Barbara remained involved for years after her husband’s death. Through that series, the Britt family helped numerous Tuck students “explore disruptive technologies and the role they play in business and the broader world,” according to Tuck’s announcement.
“Glenn’s fingerprints are all over the successful impact of the Center for Digital Strategies,” CDS Faculty Director Alva Taylor says. “The Britts’ hands-on involvement helped Tuck become a major player in the digital and technology space. For more than a decade, the Britt Technology Impact Series positively impacted thousands of Tuck students, many of whom went on to become prominent business leaders in the technology field.”
Adds Dean Slaughter: “The world needs more wise, decisive leaders like Glenn Britt, who understood how to craft a compelling vision for a better future, and then brought that vision to life through inclusive, high-performing teams. Having a cohort of Britt Scholars in perpetuity will ensure we continue to provide a life-altering Tuck education to the most deserving students, in Glenn’s and Barbara’s names.
“The entire Tuck community will remain ever grateful to the Britts for their transformative gift.”
DON’T MISS DARTMOUTH TUCK MBA CLASS OF 2025: NEARLY ONE-FIFTH ARE FIRST-IN-THEIR-FAMILY COLLEGE GRADS and TUCK RECEIVES ANONYMOUS $52.1 MILLION GIFT TO FUND ‘HEALTH, WEALTH & SUSTAINABILITY’ SUMMIT
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