Brown Logo

The News Service
38 Brown Street / Box R
Providence RI 02912

401 863-2476
Fax 863-9595

Distributed January 5, 2004
Contact Mark Nickel



News
Newell H. Morton Scholarships
New scholarships to benefit Brown students from Reading, Mass., area

An anonymous donor has provided scholarship funds in honor of Newell H. Morton, a 1932 Brown graduate and civic leader in Reading, Mass. Morton was instrumental in encouraging and helping young people from Reading – including the donor – set their sights on a college education and succeed.


PROVIDENCE, R.I. — An anonymous donor has provided Brown University with scholarship funds to honor the memory of Newell H. Morton, a 1932 Brown graduate. Morton, a civic leader and community benefactor from Reading, Mass., was instrumental in encouraging young people and helping them set their sights on a college education and succeed.

“He helped us to think along those lines even though none of us could finance a college education,” the donor said. “He was directly involved in my receiving the Brown Club of Boston Scholarship. I was penniless, but I enrolled.”

The donor is honoring Morton in several ways. The Newell H. Morton A.B. 1932 Scholarship Fund, established by the donor in 2002, is an endowment that will help provide Brown scholarships in perpetuity. A foundation created by the donor will also directly fund yearly scholarships through the Brown Annual Fund, beginning this year and continuing with scholarships in each of the next three years. All the funds are for the benefit of Brown students from Massachusetts, with primary emphasis on the town of Reading and Worcester County.

Morton was a community leader who was particularly interested in developing recreational programs for young people and their families in Reading. Ball fields, a lighted outdoor hockey rink, lighted tennis courts – “the Birch Meadow playground had all the facilities we needed,” the donor said. “Newt was a people person, well-liked and known to all. He was elected or appointed to numerous assignments, and he kept his hand in the process of improving recreational programs for so many. He was a significant figure for three or four generations in Reading.”

Most importantly, Morton made sure that young people in the 1930s and ’40s understood the advantages and values of a college education and helped them to think of college as something they could attain, even arranging field trips to Brown. “Newt made it possible, ... working behind the scenes without publicity or recognition. I have found myself becoming prouder of Newt’s accomplishments and his influence upon me and many others of my generation in Reading,” the donor wrote in his letter of agreement establishing the annual scholarships. “The fund herein established shall help to recognize Newell H. Morton and Brown University appropriately.”

Brown University awards all scholarships on the basis of financial need. The University does not consider a student’s ability pay when making its admission decisions, and it guarantees that any matriculating student who has a demonstrated financial need will receive sufficient financial support throughout the student’s chosen course of study.

######


News Service Home  |  Top of File  |  e-Subscribe  |  Brown Home Page