A List
10/22/07

DONALD & VIRIGINIA SOHN PLEDGE $6 MILLION TO ST. LAWRENCE

CANTON - St. Lawrence University Trustee Emeritus Donald Sohn and his wife, Virginia, of Beverly Farms, Massachusetts, have pledged $6 million to Momentum St. Lawrence, the University's campaign to raise $200 million by the end of 2010. The pledge is the second-largest commitment in the University's history; the largest is $10 million from Trustee Sarah Johnson Redlich, Class of 1982, for the Johnson Hall of Science.

The pledge, through the Sohns' estate, will support the Donald and Virginia Sohn Endowment for International Understanding, to be established with $1 million the Sohns committed during Campaign St. Lawrence, the University's previous major fund-raising effort, which ended in 2002.

Initially, the endowment will fund scholarship assistance for deserving international students attending St. Lawrence, with eventual support for initiatives on campus and in other countries that strengthen the University's international connections and curriculum.

President Daniel F. Sullivan said, "Trustees know the University inside out and top to bottom, so when a major gift comes from a trustee, we know it's a gift made from thorough understanding. Throughout Don Sohn's involvement with St. Lawrence, he has urged us to think outside the box, to reject the traditional solutions, to remember that the world is our classroom. With this gift, the University will see the transformative effect of Don's and Ginny's vision."

Donald Sohn, a 1948 graduate of St. Lawrence, was elected a trustee in 1992 and became an emeritus trustee in 1996. He has had a long interest international travel and a distinguished career in the travel industry, from founding Heritage Travel in 1965 to involvement in a multinational partnership that became the third-largest U.S. travel agency, as part of the Thomas Cook Group. In 1994, American Express purchased Thomas Cook Inc. and Heritage Marketing and Incentives (HMI) became independent. The company, of which Donald Sohn is a co-founder and vice chairman, is located in Norwood, Massachusetts, and offers a range of incentive travel services and programs.

In addition, Donald Sohn is chair and a founding director of the New Horizons Project, a non-profit foundation aimed at "making a contribution to the development of Russian regional companies creating educational programs for the next generation of young managers." He earned his St. Lawrence degree in economics, and holds master's and doctoral degrees from the Harvard Business School.

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