Summary: The estate of Carl Sanders has donated $3.4 million to the University of Georgia School of Law, the largest gift in the school’s history.
The estate of Carl Sanders, the former governor of Georgia, has left a generous gift to the University of Georgia School of Law: $3.4 million dollars. According to the Daily Report Online, Sanders was a 1948 graduate of the law school who passed away on November 16 at the age of 86 after suffering complications from a fall. Sanders was the governor of Georgia from 1963 to 1967. After his tenure as governor, he founded the law firm that eventually became Troutman Sanders.
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The $3.4 million gift is the largest single gift in the school’s history. Roughly $2.4 million will be used to provide scholarships to law students with the creation of the Carl E. Sanders Law Scholarship Fund. The remainder will go to the Carl E. Sanders Chair in Political Leadership Fund, which Sanders established in 2002. That fund supports a faculty position for teaching students about the lawyer’s role in public policy.
In April, the University of Georgia School of Law won a mock trial challenge.
Betty Foy Sanders, Carl’s wife of 67 years, said, “This gift and our prior gifts to the law school reflect our sincere gratitude for what Carl’s legal education and his long association with the law school meant to him and to his legal career.”
[poll id=”381″]Sanders attended both the University of Georgia and the University of Georgia School of Law. He was a lifelong supporter of the school. He attended the undergraduate school on a football scholarship, and took classes year-round in law school to earn his degree in just two years.
The Sandra Day O’Connor School of Law recently received a $10 million donation.
Sanders’ memorial service was on November 22. Norman Underwood, Sanders’ law partner, said that Sanders recalled the most significant influences of his life were the University of Georgia, the Democratic Party, the YMCA, the Baptist Church, and Richmond Academy in Augusta, Georgia, which was Sanders’ hometown.
Rebecca White, the dean of the University of Georgia School of Law, spoke of the impact that Sanders’ support had on the law school throughout the years. “Carl Sanders’ vision and political will transformed our law school from one that was small and serviceable to one of the finest in the country,” she said.
The Dedman School of Law received an anonymous $4 million gift this past summer.
While governor of Georgia, Sanders encouraged the state legislature to appropriate funds so that the school could expand. Sanders viewed the expansion as a catalyst for the school’s growth and advancement. The state provided the funds for the expansion, which included a new library and a $1 million allotment for textbooks. Sanders donated both personal gifts and his own service throughout his lifetime. Sanders is the school’s greatest individual benefactor.
In the past, Sanders donated his gubernatorial papers and other memorabilia to the library, and was the president of Georgia Law’s alumni association.
Photo credit: timesfreepress.com
