wfn.org | LaGrange College shares in $123 million gift of property

[NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG]

Dec. 21, 2000 News media contact: Thomas S.
McAnally·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.     10-71B{586}

By United  Methodist News Service

United Methodist-related LaGrange College is one of two Georgia schools to
benefit from a bequest valued at $123 million.

One of Atlanta's prime office parks is being given to LaGrange, and Southern
Baptist-related Mercer University in Macon and Atlanta, through a bequest
from Remer H. and Emily Fisher Crum.

The gift will deed the 83-acre Century Center Park to the two educational
institutions as part of their estate. The property, located between I-85
north and Clairmont Road inside the perimeter, is currently valued by the
DeKalb County Tax Assessors Office at more than $108 million. The value of
potential rental income brings the face value of the gift to more than $123
million. The land has a long-term lease that lasts well into the next
century.

"The gracious forethought and vision exhibited by the Crums as well as the
sheer magnitude of the gift make this a once-in-a-lifetime experience for a
college president," said LaGrange President F. Stuart Gulley. "Indeed, any
college would be blessed to know such generosity even one time in its
history."

The Crums have been longtime supporters of higher education in Georgia. Mrs.
Crum, a member of the LaGrange College class of 1935, and her husband
established the Emily Fisher Crum Scholarship Fund at the college in 1983
with a cash and land gift valued at $400,000. 

A former trustee of Tift College, Forsythe, Ga.,  Mr. Crum served as a
member of Mercer University's board of trustees from 1986 to 1991. The Crums
endowed the Bessie Ayers Fisher Scholarship Fund at Tift in 1984 in honor of
Mrs. Crum's mother.  Following the closure of  Tift in 1971, the fund was
transferred to Mercer where it continues to provide scholarships for gifted
young women from Georgia.

Educated at Middle Georgia College and the Georgia Institute of Technology,
Mr. Crum was trained as a civil engineer. He has spent most of his
professional career as an investor and real estate manager. He is a native
of LaGrange and an active volunteer working with numerous benevolent causes.

Members of Peachtree Road United Methodist Church in Atlanta, the Crums have
been involved in many leadership roles. 

"We have been affiliated with both schools for many years," Mr. Crum said.
"We wanted to keep the property intact, and felt the best way was to make a
direct gift to these two institutions. They're both fine schools - one is
Baptist and the other is Methodist. We know the presidents of these schools,
and we like the direction they are going."

The Century Center  property was once a farm belonging to Mrs. Crum's
mother's family.
"At one time my father had row crops on that land," she said. "I remember
when the only roads out there were dirt and when it rained you would get
stuck in the mud."

Founded in 1831, LaGrange College is the oldest private college in Georgia.
The four-year liberal arts school  is ranked in the top tier and as one of
the top 10 "best values" among southern liberal arts schools by U.S. News &
World Report.

With an enrollment of approximately 1,000 men and women, the college offers
39 undergraduate academic and pre-professional programs and graduate
programs in business and education.

Founded in 1833 in Penfield, Ga., Mercer University has an enrollment of
more than 7,400 students and 1,400 faculty members on campuses in Macon and
Atlanta. One of the largest Baptist-affiliated institutions in the world,
Mercer is the only independent university of its size in the country to
offer programs in liberal arts, business, engineering, education, medicine,
pharmacy, law, theology and nursing. Mercer has been ranked among the top 15
regional colleges and universities in the South by U.S. News and World
Report for 11 consecutive years.
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United Methodist News Service
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