Contact: Shawn Presley, Kenyon College Public Relations, 740-427-5592

GAMBIER, Ohio, June 1 /Standard Newswire/ -- The Newman's Own Foundation and Paul Newman ('49) will establish the single largest scholarship fund at Kenyon College as part of a $230 million comprehensive campaign announced on June 1. The gift is one of three lead commitments -- two $10 million contributions and a $25 million anonymous gift -- that have allowed the College to announce that it has already raised almost half, or $110 million, of its goal.

Kenyon's campaign is the most ambitious in the College's history and aims to raise more than twice the total of the last comprehensive fundraising effort. A $10 million gift from Kenyon alumnus David W. Horvitz ('74) and his wife, Francie Bishop Good, will fund a new studio art facility. A $25 million anonymous gift will underwrite the restoration and expansion of Peirce Hall, the College's central dining facility, and the construction of a new art history and museum building.

The bulk of Kenyon's fundraising effort is focused on increasing the College's endowment. Fully $150 million of the $230 million goal will support endowment and annual operating resources, the first time that endowment has taken center stage in a Kenyon campaign.

Campaign priorities include $70 million for scholarships, $33 million of which has already been committed. The Newman-supported scholarship fund alone will generate at least $450,000 each year, providing numerous full and partial scholarships to first-generation, minority, and other underrepresented groups, who will be designated Newman's Own Foundation Scholars.

Paul Newman, a 1949 graduate of Kenyon, has generously given of his time and resources to the College over the years, directing a play in 1978 to celebrate the opening of the Bolton Theater and serving as honorary chair with his wife, Joanne Woodward, of the College's most recent campaign in 1998-2001.

Newman recalls his years at Kenyon fondly. "My days there were among the happiest and most formative of my life," he has said. In addition to studying English, theater, and economics, he started a popular laundry service to earn extra money. "I owe Kenyon a great deal," he said, "I even started my first business there, and I depended on that extra $60 a week. I personally feel great affection and a debt of gratitude for Kenyon. It is a very special place. This fund, however, is meant to be more than just a gift to a college. I believe strongly that we should be doing whatever we can to make all higher education opportunities available to deserving students. I hope others will support Kenyon in this manner, and, equally, that others will support colleges and universities around the country."

Newman's philanthropy has inspired other donors, such as David W. Horvitz, a 1974 graduate of Kenyon, who has served as chair of Kenyon's board of trustees, an eighteen-year member of the board, and leader of the first phase of the "We are Kenyon" drive. Horvitz is chairman of WLD Enterprises of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His $10 million donation to the College's art program was inspired by his wife, artist Francie Bishop Good, and will fund a 40,000-square-foot structure for studio art.

A second 30,000-square-foot visual arts facility devoted to art history, touring art exhibitions, and the housing of a growing permanent art collection, has been supported with an anonymous gift to Kenyon. This commitment, coupled with an additional gift to renovate and expand Peirce Hall, the College's historic 1926 dining facility and campus center, totals $25 million, the second largest contribution received in the College's history.

Kenyon's campaign total to date includes twenty gifts of $1 million or more, many for endowed scholarships, including two gifts of $5 million each from Jane and Phillip Currier ('56) of Elkins, New Hampshire, and an anonymous donor; a $2.5 million commitment from Barry F. Schwartz ('70), executive vice president and general counsel of MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings of New York; and a $2 million gift from Barrett A. Toan ('69), retired chairman of Express Scripts of St. Louis, and his wife, Polly O'Brien. An additional $2.5 million commitment from Ariel Corporation and its CEO Karen A. Wright, a Kenyon parent and trustee from Mount Vernon, Ohio, has helped fund the new art history and museum building. Edwin H. Eaton ('60) of Naples, Florida, and his family have established the J. Kenneth Smail Endowed Professorship in Anthropology with a $2 million gift. The campaign is supported by more than 10,000 Kenyon alumni and parent contributors who have already made initial gifts. Titled "We Are Kenyon: The Drive for Excellence," the public campaign will be led through 2010 by Charles P. and Susan Waite, Jr. of Kirkland, Washington, both Kenyon alumni and parents of two Kenyon students.

"Kenyon alumni and parents are significant and successful leaders worldwide, and they have always had strong ties to this campus. This time, they have truly made gifts of a lifetime, sometimes contributing ten times their previous support," says Kenyon president S. Georgia Nugent. "At an undergraduate liberal arts college like Kenyon, gifts of $10 million can change the world. It makes such a huge difference."

Campaign goals and priorities include:

• Access to a Kenyon Education: $70 Million
  
  An unprecedented commitment to endowed financial aid that ensures all deserving students can be a part of the Kenyon experience.

• Teaching and Learning at Kenyon: $87 Million
  
  A substantial investment in faculty development, endowed professorships, and student research programs preserves the teaching excellence that lies at the heart of a Kenyon education. Capital components include construction of a $34 million two-building visual arts complex and other instructional facilities.

• Enhancing residential life at Kenyon: $49 Million
  
  A renewed emphasis on providing students with an ideal environment in which to live, learn, interact, and grow is supported by improved residential and dining facilities and preservation of the College's rural environment.

• Annual Funds: $24 Million
  
  Unwavering support of the Kenyon Fund and the Kenyon Parents Fund makes possible a wide range of essential programs.

Founded in 1824, Kenyon College is the oldest private college in Ohio. Located in Gambier, the coeducational institution has approximately 1,600 students and offers a challenging curriculum that embraces the traditional humanities, arts, and sciences along with interdisciplinary programs and study-abroad opportunities.