Billionaire Robert Bass gives $1.25 million to College of the Atlantic for new faculty chair position
Bangor Daily News
June 29, 2011
One of the richest men in America is helping to create a faculty chair position at College of the Atlantic.
Robert M. Bass, listed in March by Forbes Magazine in a five-way tie for 74th richest American, and his wife, Anne T. Bass, have given $1.25 million to the school to create the Bass Chair in Earth Systems and GeoSciences faculty position, the college announced Tuesday in a prepared statement.
Bass is a summer resident of Mount Desert Island, where he owns an oceanfront home in the village of Seal Harbor. According to Forbes, the Fort Worth, Texas, resident has an estimated net worth of $4 billion, much of it from investments in the oil industry.
In the prepared statement, Bass indicated that the gift will help address the “highest priority” at the college, which emphasizes environmental education and offers degrees in human ecology.
“The Chair in Earth Systems and GeoSciences will enable College of the Atlantic to add a new discipline in an important disciplinary field,” Bass wrote in the release. “The addition of a new professorship will add both depth and breadth across COA’s curriculum.”
