University of Virginia Library

At a meeting of the Board of Visitors held February 13, 1948, I am advised that -

This action of the Board arises out of the following fact - that by his will, dated January 31,
1945, and recently admitted to probate by the District Court of the United States for the District
of Columbia, the late Benjamin F. Minor, of Washington, D. C., made the following bequest -

I do not think there is any legal question involved in this situation, the actual question
presented being whether Mr. Minor intended to give this money to -

(1) The University of Virginia Alumni Fund

(2) The Alumni Board of Trustees of the University of Virginia Endowment Fund, or

(3) The University of Virginia Development Fund

We have not had in our files a copy of Mr. Minor's will but I am reliably advised that the
quotation above given contains the only reference made in the will to this bequest.

In a letter written by Mr. William H. White, Jr., Treasurer of the Alumni Board of Trustees
of the University of Virginia Endowment Fund, to President Darden, on January 2, 1948, he quotes as
follows from a letter dated December 31, 1947, written to him by the Vice-President and Trust Officer
of National Savings and Trust Company of Washington, D. C., one of the Executors of Mr. Minor's
estate -

I am advised by Mr. J. Malcolm Luck, Alumni Secretary, that during his lifetime Mr. Minor

made the following contributions to the University of Virginia Alumni Fund -

                 

1937	$ 5.00
1938	20.00
1939	15.00
1940	15.00
1941	5.00
1943	20.00
1944	15.00
1945	10.00
1946	10.00

It is perfectly clear to me, therefore, that when Mr. Minor said this bequest was to be used
by the University "as a part of its Alumni Fund", he meant the University of Virginia Alumni Fund,
and did not intend it to go either to the Alumni Board of Trustees of the University of Virginia Endowment
Fund or to the Development Fund. He certainly did not intend it for the Development Fund for
his will was executed January 31, 1945, before that fund was started.

It is my opinion, therefore, that this Two Thousand Dollars, ($2,000.00), which I understand
has been paid to the University by Mr. Minor's Executors, should be turned over to the University
Alumni Fund, through its Secretary and Treasurer, Mr. J. Malcolm Luck.

If I am correct in my reasoning, and I think I am, this is a bequest to a definite instrumentality
or agency of the University of Virginia. The larger question of whether the Board of Visitors of
the University has the right to delegate to any department, agency or instrumentality the handling and
management of funds given to - "The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia" is not here involved.
It cannot be questioned that anyone has the right to give money either to the Alumni Board of
Trustees or to the University Alumni Fund, or to any other agency, corporation or individual, natural
or artificial, for the use of the University of Virginia. The present case, in my opinion, deals with
a gift made directly for the specific use of the Alumni Fund and it is perfectly proper for the Board
to turn the money over to the officers of that Fund.

In my opinion, it is only where the gift is made to the "University of Virginia", or to "The
Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia", without designation as to the agency or instrumentality
for whose use it is intended, that any question can arise as to the right of the Board of
Visitors to delegate the management of such a fund.