He gave $100m to Yale School of Music
RIPThe death has been reported of Stephen Adams who, with his wife Denise, made a huge gift to Yale in 2005 with a view to providing free music tuition to all students.
Adams was 86.
Obituary here.
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Bravo, money well spent. RIP.
Too much money to one cause…there are much more noble efforts…
i agree. there are people without jobs.
with dependents that need some help
Donating money to make tuition free for students is the least effective form of philanthropy because American universities set tuition purely on the basis of profit taking and robbing the middle class with zero relationship to anything remotely based on real costs or benefits. Yale could double its tuition tomorrow for no reason at all, and Juilliard would just follow suit because that is what the market is.
I don’t see how making it possible for a talented musician from a family that is not wealthy to be able to go to a great graduate school is stealing from the middle class.
And have we seen any prominent Yale music graudates since 2005? I would have given money to the cause and not to any one institution, but I know what’s what many alumni do.
It’s a minor music school with a very undistinguished faculty, with a famous name that draws students in. There are apparently benefits to going there, if only the snobbery factor. At least it’s a full-fledged music department, unlike UPenn or Harvard, Princeton, other Ivies.
Let’s start with 5 of the 18 Pulitzer prizes in music awarded since 2005.
I wonder how long it’ll take YSM to acknowledge his passing on their website.
I remember when this transformative gift was made, in part because it made advanced conservatory training feasible for so many musicians I know. A wonderful and ongoing act of generosity.
Do you have any idea how many talented students decided not to go to this first-rate music school because they could not afford it? His was a gift to the art and to music lovers throughout the world.
Apparently the circumstances of the gift were a little strange. Basically this alum was chatting with Yale Development and asked, what department is short on money and they said well the School of Music I guess. They had no idea he was going to donate 100 million, if they had they would have pointed him to another department. So I heard at the time.
Should have given it to Curtis Institute of Music instead.
Dear Naysayers,
“If one should desire to know whether a kingdom is well governed, if its morals are good or bad, the quality of its music will furnish the answer.”
― Confucius
The quality of music at Yale was given a terrific boost through this generous gift. It was a gift of love, plain and simple. The gift will, in turn, benefit communities both locally and worldwide as these fine musicians establish themselves.
We live in a country that largely depends on private sources for support of the Arts. We need only to look at examples in Europe or artists designated as “National Treasures” in Japan to understand the importance governments of other nations place on music and the Arts. This is why the gift must be recognized as a vital contribution to society. It is a private and necessary contribution to art and culture.
I am certain Confucius would agree.