Reflections on Giving

Priya Wadhera ’90 with fellow Annual Giving Fund volunteers Derek Chang ’85, Frederic Sater ’52; P’80, Sara Fischer Betekhtin ’77 and Michael Oneal ’74.

Priya Wadhera ’90 on the Power of Participation

Elated at the prospect of a life in academia, Priya Wadhera, who recently joined the faculty at Columbia University, attributes her passion for learning—and teaching—to Exeter. “If I’m a good teacher, I owe that to Exeter,” she says. “It was there that I came to understand learning as an ongoing dialogue in which all in the classroom must engage. Teaching is about being nurturing and demanding at the same time. This is the type of environment I aim to create in my own classroom today.”

For Priya, a long-time Annual Giving Fund donor and phonathon volunteer, Exeter’s unique, student-centered teaching method, and the amazing instructors who challenge students to surpass their own limits, are what make the Academy worth her support. “After all,” she stresses, “Exeter’s special character has always been derived from the people who comprise the community there, namely the teachers and the students.We learn that with a great education comes great responsibility. And this is where the Annual Giving Fund comes in. As Exeter embarks on this ambitious campaign, it is vital that every donor understand that his or her gift, no matter what the amount, is critical to Exeter’s future. It is essential that we join together and participate so Exeter can continue to educate and inspire generations to come.”

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Jim Ottaway ’55; P’78

Jim Ottaway ’55; P’78 on Preserving Meritocracy

During his four years at Exeter, Jim Ottaway ’55; P’78 met and befriended students from all walks of life. “I later 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,” says Jim. The experience made its mark, deeply affecting Jim’s own thinking on social justice and responsibility and inspiring him in later philanthropic decisions.

Today Jim still feels passionate about maintaining the meritocratic ethic that makes Exeter so special. “The basic reason for my continuing support of Exeter 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 34 percent to 40 percent of the student body.” Thanks to Jim’s incredible generosity, Exeter is on its way to reaching this goal. In 2002, Jim pledged $10 million to establish the James H. Ottaway Jr., Class of 1955, Scholarship Endowment, the income from which will be used to provide scholarship aid for students with financial need.

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Kat Taylor and Tom Steyer ’75

Kat Taylor and Tom Steyer ’75 on the Role of Great Teachers

“There are very few excellent organizations in the world,” says Tom Steyer ’75; “Exeter happens to be one of them, and it also happens to stand for a lot of things I like.” Which may explain why Tom, the managing partner of hedge fund Farallon Capital Management and married father of four children, devotes so much of his limited free time to an independent secondary school 3,000 miles away from his home in San Francisco.

Recently, to honor and perpetuate the excellent teaching he experienced at the Academy, Tom and his wife Kat established two of Exeter’s first-ever Distinguished Professorships, which are intended to recognize outstanding senior faculty who have contributed in significant ways to teaching and learning at Exeter. Of his decision to make this historic gift, Tom says, “There are two things I am interested in—teachers and students—but students are really a derivative of the first group. In other words, they’ll come if great teachers are there to lead them. By establishing the professorships, I’m helping to ensure that the best teachers can afford to teach, so that subsequently, the best students will enroll.”

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Barbara and Peter Georgescu ’57

Barbara and Peter Georgescu ’57 on the Questions that Matter

Driven, as he has always been, to succeed, Peter Georgescu ’57 is also fiercely loyal to causes and institutions in which he believes. There is, for example, his career, spent entirely, and very successfully, at advertising and marketing giant Young & Rubicam. There is also his secondary school—Exeter, which Peter began attending upon his arrival from Romania at age 15 thanks to a gesture of kindness and faith on the part of William Saltonstall that Peter has never forgotten.

Nearly 50 years after his graduation from Exeter, Peter and wife Barbara’s recent generous gift to support curricular innovation at the Academy reflects the same ethos of non sibi that Peter experienced at PEA. “Just as it is now, Exeter in my time was about values, and developing a sense of balance among the multiplicity of lifestyles one had there: in the dorm, the classroom and athletics. Without question, I owe Exeter because Exeter laid the foundation in terms of work habits, analytical skills and ethics.”

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Don and Doris Fisher P’72, ’75, ’79, with sons (l to r) Bill Fisher ’75, John Fisher ’79 and Bob Fisher ’72. Doris is a former trustee of Phillips Exeter Academy.

The Fisher Family on Keeping Exeter Unrivaled

Among them, the Fisher brothers—Bob ’72, Bill ’75 and John ’79—spanned almost a decade at Exeter, creating a family connection to the Academy that is as strong and vital today as ever. “I’d have to say that Exeter stands unrivaled compared to any educational experience before or since,” reflects John. “Perhaps because of our formative ages, my brothers and I all left with a greater awareness of who we were and what we were capable of.”

The brothers thrived at the Academy, each, in his turn, becoming involved with the squash and tennis programs. “Athletics at Exeter were tremendously important to my brothers and me,” says John. It was these positive experiences on Exeter’s courts, in addition to many others both inside and outside the classroom that have inspired not only the brothers, but their parents, Don and Doris, to give back. To honor their strong connection to the Academy and its athletic programs, the Fisher family has recently provided a generous lead gift to initiate the construction of a new, state-of-the-art squash center at Exeter.

“Exeter is such a unique place in terms of everything it stands for and offers,” says John; “That’s something you want to continue, something that should be nourished so that the opportunity will exist for generations to come. It’s up to us to keep the tradition going.”

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Rob Shapiro ’68, Peter Blum ’68 and Grif Johnson ’68 with David and Jackie Thomas ’62, ’69 (Hon.); P’78, ’79, ’81.

The Class of 1968 on Connecting with Teachers

When it came time to select a fund-raising project for their 35th reunion, volunteers for the class of 1968 ultimately decided that doing something in the area of faculty housing would elicit the best response and create the greatest momentum among classmates. The stars seemed to align when, just as ’68 geared up for its celebration, David and Jackie Thomas decided to move out of the home at 16 Elm Street that they had occupied for 29 years. “There were a number of classics scholars in the class,” says current class president Grif Johnson, “many of whom had had Dave Thomas as a teacher, and others of us had come to know Jackie through her work with the Academy Library, so funding the purchase of their former residence seemed like a perfect project for us.”

The response from classmates? “Outstanding,” says Johnson. “The project really held a powerful appeal for us because it resonated to our own experiences as students. Many of us remember the non-structured interactions we had with teachers in our dorms and houses and the difference those moments made in our Exeter experiences. Our class wanted to be sure that future generations of teachers and students would not be deprived of such connections.”

Thomas House was officially dedicated on November 8, 2003, and will house faculty families who have completed ten or more years of dormitory service.

Other members of 1968 closely involved with this project include Allen Carney, Jim Cornell, David Farren P’01, Paul Goldenheim, Bill Robinson, Gordy Whitman and Paul Zevnik.

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Bob Storey ’54; P’79, P’83, P’87

Bob Storey ’54; P’79, P’83; P’87 on Exeter in the World

Bob Storey ’54; P’79, P’83; P’87 has many fond memories of his four years at the Academy: being coached by Ralph Lovshin; attending the English classes of George Bennett and Jack Heath; and gathering with the rest of the school every Saturday evening to view the first-run movies that Darcy Curwen so carefully selected. Exeter’s fertile learning environment, however, probably made the biggest impact. “There are relatively few opportunities for young people between the ages of 14 and 18 to be in the presence of such talented, able, diverse peers. This is what makes Exeter such a special place. Encountering this kind of excellence at an early age is great preparation for the world outside.”

Along with a handful of classmates, Bob had a special introduction to “the world outside” in 1954 when a group traveled to London’s East End after graduation to mentor working-class youth. Storey calls his time in the United Kingdom “one of the great joys I experienced as a result of my connection to Exeter. I developed an interest in world affairs that I’d never had before.” Recently, Bob has made Exeter the irrevocable beneficiary of a life insurance policy that will eventually create The Robert D. Storey ’54 International Travel Fellowship Fund. The fund will give Academy students, faculty and staff opportunities for the same kind of personal (and professional) growth that so profoundly influenced Bob as a young graduate of Exeter.

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