Hampden-Sydney College receives $20M pledge

Richmond-based Endeavour Legacy Foundation has pledged $20 million to Hampden-Sydney College, the second largest gift in the college’s history.

The college will use the gift, announced Tuesday, toward renovating its former science center, Gilmer Hall, into an academic facility housing the economics and business, and government and foreign affairs departments. The two departments are currently housed in Morton Hall.

According to a Hampden-Sydney spokesperson, the Endeavour Legacy Foundation gift will cover the construction costs associated with the renovation of Gilmer Hall, work that will start this fall with an anticipated completion of spring 2026. Morton Hall and Johns Auditorium are being considered for future renovation.

“On behalf of a very grateful Hampden-Sydney College community, I thank Endeavour Legacy Foundation for its generous support for our shared vision to make Hampden-Sydney one of the finest and most distinctive colleges in the nation,” Hampden-Sydney College President Larry Stimpert said in a statement.

The Endeavour Legacy Foundation is co-led by Katharine “Kathy” Pauley Hickok, the daughter of the late Stanley F. and Dorothy Pauley. In September 2019, Hampden-Sydney College received a $30 million gift from Stan Pauley. The gift supported the construction of a new science facility, the Pauley Science Center, which opened in August 2022.

Stan Pauley was the chairman and CEO of polyurethane materials producer Carpenter Co. and served on the Hampden-Sydney board of trustees. He died in 2020 at the age of 93. His wife and fellow philanthropist, Dorothy Pauley, died in 2021 at the age of 91.

The family foundation also supported Virginia Commonwealth University and VCU Health, including a $5 million donation in 2005 that named the VCU Health Pauley Heart Center. As of November 2020, the Pauley family had committed more than $28 million to VCU. Dorothy Pauley graduated from the VCU College of Humanities and Sciences in 1974.

Kathy Pauley Hickok serves as president/secretary of the Endeavour Legacy Foundation, and her husband, Eugene “Gene” Hickok, serves as the vice president/director of the foundation, according to its 2022 tax return filing. Gene Hickok served as U.S. deputy secretary of education from 2003 to 2005 under then-President George W. Bush. He graduated from Hampden-Sydney College in 1972 and was director of the college’s financial aid.

A private men’s college in Prince Edward County, Hampden-Sydney College first held classes in 1775. As of fall 2023, the college had 876 students enrolled, according to State Council of Higher Education for Virginia data.

Note: This story has been changed since publication to distinguish between the Endeavour Legacy Foundation and the Pauley Family Foundation.