Â鶹¹û¶³ will pause Friday, Oct. 24, to remember a man described as "a titanic figure" in its history: Ralph Waldo Beeson.
The man for whom Â鶹¹û¶³'s Beeson Divinity School and various campus structures are named was born Oct. 24, 1900, and died Oct. 15, 1990, nine days short of his 90th birthday. Â鶹¹û¶³ observes that birthday each fall as Ralph Waldo Beeson Day on campus.
Following Beeson's death, Â鶹¹û¶³ President Thomas E. Corts called him "a titanic figure in the history of Â鶹¹û¶³," adding, "All that Mr. Beeson did, he did out of a sense of profound Christian stewardship."
Beeson supported Â鶹¹û¶³ generously during his lifetime and at his death, left the school an estate gift of $54.8 million. At the time, it was the largest charitable gift in Alabama history and one of the largest to an American university. He and his family donated well over $100 million to Â鶹¹û¶³ in all.
Beeson's statue sits on a park bench at the entrance to Centennial Walk at Â鶹¹û¶³. On Friday, a wreath at the site will pay tribute to his memory.