Bringing The World Home To You

© 2024 WUNC North Carolina Public Radio
120 Friday Center Dr
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
919.445.9150 | 800.962.9862
91.5 Chapel Hill 88.9 Manteo 90.9 Rocky Mount 91.1 Welcome 91.9 Fayetteville 90.5 Buxton 94.1 Lumberton 99.9 Southern Pines 89.9 Chadbourn
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Lord Sale Triggers Windfall For Duke U

The late Thomas Lord, who set up foundations to support universities, including Duke University.
Lord Corporation
/
Laura Brinn

Duke University will receive $261 million thanks to a distribution that was triggered by the recent sale of Cary-based Lord Corporation.

Parker-Hannifin acquired Lord earlier this year for nearly $3.7 billion, which triggered a distribution to four foundations that were set up in 1982 by the late Thomas Lord, who led the family-owned company until his death in 1989. Those foundations support four institutions, including Duke University, and the sale triggered a cash windfall of more than $1 billion that the four will share. The other supported institutions are the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Southern California, and the Cleveland Clinic.

The institutions are free to use the money as they see fit. Duke said its $261 million distribution has been designated for the university's endowment to provide a permanent source of support. It will be the largest single outside contribution to the fund since the founding of the university in 1924. 

"The Lord Foundation's exceptional support for Duke will transform our efforts to address the world's most intractable problems," said Duke President Vincent E. Price in a statement. "From the foundation's earliest investments in our Pratt School of Engineering to this truly visionary distribution, Tom Lord has left a lasting legacy on Duke's campus, one that will continue to improve the lives of our students, faculty, staff and those who benefit from their work, for many decades to come."

Jason deBruyn is WUNC's Supervising Editor for Digital News, a position he took in 2024. He has been in the WUNC newsroom since 2016 as a reporter.
Related Stories
More Stories