Johnstons' Gift to Benefit UT Libraries, Business College
April 24, 2008
KNOXVILLE -- Russell Johnston Jr. and his wife, Florence Fair Johnston, have been longtime supporters of the University of Tennessee.
Both are 1960 alumni. Russell Johnston, who taught at Boston University and Wake Forest University, is a member of UT's Development Council and the College of Business Administration Advisory Council to the Dean.
Florence Johnston, who worked for the Massachusetts Medical Society's New England Journal of Medicine, was a UT Chancellor's Associate and served on the UT Library Friends Executive Committee.
The Johnstons, who live in Knoxville, have now added to their support of UT with a deferred gift to the Campaign for Tennessee. Their gift will benefit both the College of Business Administration and UT Libraries.
The campaign is a $1 billion fundraising effort that was officially launched on April 17 at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Several generations of the Johnston and Fair families have attended UT and have been donors. In addition to his wife's service on the library committee, Russell Johnston said their family members are avid readers and library lovers.
Johnston said the gift to the College of Business is, in part, a memorial to Al Keally, former head of the Department of Management, who was one of his faculty advisers in the 1950s.
"He took a lot of interest in students. He had a big impact on my life and career," Johnston said.
The Campaign for Tennessee -- the most ambitious effort in the university’s 214-year history -- places UT among the ranks of the nation’s largest public and private institutions that have sought this level of private support.
The campaign, which launched its silent phase in 2005, will secure private gifts that, in turn, will contribute substantially to the distinct, but linked, campuses comprised by the University of Tennessee system. Funds raised through the campaign will directly support the objectives of UT's strategic plan, as outlined by UT President John Petersen. Among those objectives are improved student access and success, research and economic development, outreach and globalization.
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Contact:
Amy Blakely, (865) 974-5034, amy.blakely@tennessee.edu
Beth Gladden, (865) 974-9008, bgladden@utk.edu
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