Trustee Emeritus Richard F. Brush ’52 started collecting art when he was a student at St. Lawrence.  His early interest in an Israeli etching has developed into a lifelong passion to advocate for and benefit the arts.

Dick recently pledged $3.4 million to St. Lawrence University, with $400,000 going toward arts facilities improvements now under way on campus and $3 million for future renovations. St. Lawrence is in the midst of a multi-phase arts facilities project, and the $3 million gift will launch fund-raising efforts for aspects still to be planned.

A 1952 graduate of St. Lawrence, Brush, of Fairport, New York, is among the most generous donors in the University's history. Many of his gifts have been directed toward arts facilities and programming, and the acquisition of art for the University's permanent collection. St. Lawrence's art exhibition space, the Richard F. Brush Art Gallery, is named in recognition of his generosity.

“Dick Brush combines a fundamental grasp of what excellence is in the making of art with the deepest of commitments to his alma mater and to our ambition to continue to strengthen the arts here,” St. Lawrence President Daniel F. Sullivan has said. “His impact on the arts at St. Lawrence has been and will be enormous. Our multi-phase arts facilities investment, along with a concurrent investment in the growth of the faculty teaching in the arts disciplines, has contributed to our recent success in attracting those students best equipped to participate fully in the rich academic program we offer. More than anyone, Dick has helped make all of this happen."