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The
fact that Jim Ottaway Jr.’s father did not
believe in independent secondary school education
seems particularly ironic in light of his son’s
lifelong devotion to Exeter. But James H. Ottaway
Sr., a successful newspaperman from Endicott,
NY, had an unhappy experience at Andover during
his own youth that influenced his feelings about
his children’s education—that is,
until Chuck Carpenter ’20 came to town.
A newsprint salesman, Chuck was an ardent Exonian
who eventually convinced Mr. and Mrs. Ottaway
that Exeter would change Jim Jr.’s life
for the better. Jim, Exeter class of 1955, recalls
thinking this was
“an exciting idea.”
Soon afterward, Jim was making the trek from upstate
New York to seacoast New Hampshire to begin his
prep year at the Academy. “I was homesick
for 15 minutes,” he jokes. “As soon
as I started making friends in Dunbar, I enjoyed
every second for four years.” Chuck Carpenter’s
prediction, it seems, came true. “It was
hard work, great fun and indeed a life-changing
experience that I’ve never forgotten,”
says Jim.
Contributing significantly to Jim’s experience
was the diversity he experienced as a student
at the Academy. “I came from a small, upstate
New York community where I didn’t know a
single black person. I soon discovered black students
at Exeter who were smarter than I was, faster
on the track and good friends. This gave me an
instant respect for students from minority backgrounds
and a lifelong understanding of their special
problems in American society.” Jim continues,
“I also discovered that some of my best
friends were scholarship students who could not
have come to Exeter without the generous support
of previous Exeter graduates.”
Jim describes Exeter as the place where he learned
“the joy of discovering books and ideas
in the classroom and the old Davis library; the
joy of athletic competition—‘mens
sana in corpore sano’; the pleasures of
good conversation and lifelong friends.”
Through the years, scholarship support has been
a kind of raison d’être in both his
Exeter volunteerism and his philanthropy. Serving
as a class agent from 1955 to 1980 and as an Academy
trustee from 1971 to 1981, Jim became known as
a strong proponent of student financial aid who
was willing to give his own resources for the
cause. In a letter written in 1980 to Director
of Financial Aid Rick Mahoney ’61, Jim expressed
succinctly why scholarship support was, for him,
such a compelling priority. “The great strength
of Exeter,” he wrote, “is its geographic
and social diversity.”
Now, over twenty years later, Jim still finds
scholarship aid for current and potential Exeter
students as critical as ever. So much so, in fact,
that this past winter Jim pledged $10 million
to establish a permanent fund at Exeter, the income
from which will be used to provide scholarship
aid for students with financial need. The James
H. Ottaway Jr., Class of 1955, Scholarship Endowment
brings Exeter closer to its Academy Master Plan
objective of eliminating consideration of a family’s
financial situation as a factor in the admission
process. Jim’s gift is also the largest
outright scholarship gift ever received by Phillips
Exeter Academy.
“The basic reason for my continuing support
of Exeter,” says Jim, “is that it
is and should continue to be the best independent
secondary school in America. One of the main reasons
for its preeminence is its generous scholarship
program, which I hope will be increased from helping
35 percent to 40 percent of the student body.
At that level, Exeter would have a larger scholarship
program than any other American secondary school.”
Jim, who has been honored with both the Founder’s
Day Award (1985) and the John Phillips Award (1995)
for his service to the Academy and to society
at large, may have best summed up his philosophy
on giving back to “Mother Exeter, stern,
yet tender” in an address made to Academy
faculty in May 1990. “There is another motivation
for my gift,” he noted, “and that
is my feeling that American citizens who are blessed
with good fortune have a grave responsibility
to contribute to the better education of future
citizens.” 
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