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Best-selling author Robert James Waller earmarks four areas of IU to divide large estate gift
Nov. 29, 2000
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Robert James Waller Jr., author of the best-selling novel, The Bridges of Madison County, recently named his alma mater Indiana University as the recipient of a significant estate gift with an estimated value well into the seven-figure range.
In establishing his estate gift for IU, Waller designated four specific areas of the university: the School of Music, the Kelley School of Business, the University Libraries and the Research and University Graduate School.
The celebrated author received his Ph.D. degree from IU's School of Business in 1968, where he also played guitar and sang at a local Holiday Inn bar to cover his living expenses.
"Some 30 years out, the old emotions are still there: the sense of warmth and gratitude I felt all those years ago and still feel toward IU as an institution," wrote Waller in a recent Indiana Alumni Magazine article.
After receiving his doctorate from IU, Waller returned to his home state of Iowa to teach at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls where he eventually worked as dean of the Business School.
In 1992, Waller wrote and published The Bridges of Madison County, a best-selling novel that eventually became a Steven Spielberg-produced film. He also composed songs for the album The Ballads of Madison County, released in 1993. He has since written four books and published a book of photographs.
"The university is very pleased to have welcomed such a unique and multi-talented student as Robert Waller here so many years ago," said IU President Myles Brand. "With this generous gift, IU is enriched not only by his gratitude for his graduate years at the School of Business but also by his enduring appreciation of music, literature and research."
Waller's estate gift will recognize the four areas of the university that represent his wide range of interests as a musician, writer and business alumnus.
A bequest to the School of Music will eventually establish the Robert J. Waller Sr. and Robert J. Waller Jr. Chair in Jazz Studies. The Kelley School of Business will receive a bequest to name the courtyard in the Corporate and Graduate Center. The University Libraries will receive a bequest of copyrights to all his literature, art and music, and the Research and University Graduate School will receive a bequest of Waller's ranch in Texas for preservation and research use.
The gift will be managed by the IU Foundation, a not-for-profit corporation that brings resources from the private sector to Indiana University and manages the university's endowment. In the last fiscal year, the Foundation raised and received $109.1 million from more than 100,000 donors, placing it among the top 20 institutions in the country in voluntary support.
(Barbara Coffman, IU Foundation, 812-855-1422, coffman@indiana.edu)