$1-million Luce Foundation grant

Brown establishes Tillinghast Professorship in International Studies

Brown University has established the Tillinghast Professorship in International Studies, honoring Charles C. Tillinghast Jr., longtime trustee, fellow and chancellor emeritus. Funding for the chair included a $1-million grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, of which Tillinghast served as a director from 1974 to 1996.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Brown University has established the Charles C. Tillinghast '32 Professorship in International Studies. The new chair, created with a $1-million grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, was announced by Brown President E. Gordon Gee on Friday, Jan. 9, 1998, at a meeting of the Brown Corporation's Advisory and Executive Committee.

"Charlie Tillinghast's contributions to this University as student, alumnus, trustee, fellow, chancellor and senior fellow have been magnificent and inspiring," Gee said. "I am delighted that this professorship will celebrate his great interest in international affairs and will forever honor his many years of service to Brown. It was also a particular pleasure that the Tillinghast chair was established at the beginning of my presidency."

As senior fellow of the University, Tillinghast administered the oath of office at Gee's formal engagement as president earlier in the week, on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 1998.

In announcing the Luce Foundation's grant to Brown, chairman and CEO Henry Luce III said, "This award recognizes Charles Tillinghast's lifelong interest in international issues, his concern for excellence in teaching and research, and his commitment to Brown University." Tillinghast served as a director of the Luce Foundation for 22 years, from 1974 to 1996.

The Tillinghast Professorship will support a senior professor chosen from a broad range of departments which deal with international topics, including foreign languages, political science, economics, history and many area studies programs. This is the second chair to honor Tillinghast. The earlier Tillinghast University Professorship, created early in 1997, honors Tillinghast's years of service as chancellor. It is currently held by Professor Dan Brock of the Department of Philosophy and Program in Biomedical Ethics.

Charles C. Tillinghast Jr.

Charles C. Tillinghast Jr. earned a Bachelor of Philosophy degree from Brown University in 1932 and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from Columbia University in 1935. He began his professional life as a lawyer with Hughes, Schurman and Dwight in New York City. He served on the staff of District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey and was subsequently a partner in Hughes, Hubbard and Reed.

After four years as vice president for international operations of the Bendix Corporation (1957-1961), Tillinghast joined Trans World Airlines as president and served as CEO for 16 years. After his retirement from TWA as chairman in 1976, he became vice chairman of White Weld & Co., and then vice president of Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith when the two firms merged. He retired in 1983.

His service to Brown University dates to 1954, when he began the first of two terms as a member of the Board of Trustees (1954-1961 and 1965-1979). He was elected chancellor of the University in 1968, serving in that office until 1979, when he joined the Board of Fellows. In 1967, at his 35th reunion, Brown conferred an honorary Doctor of Laws degree on him, and in 1982 he received the Susan Colver Rosenberger Medal, the highest honor the Brown University faculty can bestow.