St. Mark’s School Announces Transformational $5 Million Gift from Alumnus Wistar Morris ’60
One of the largest gifts in school history builds on Morris’s $1 million commitment last year and will propel strategic priorities for students, faculty, and staff.
Southborough, Massachusetts–January 9, 2025–St. Mark’s School today announced a $5 million outright gift from alumnus Wistar Morris ’60, representing one of the largest single cash contributions in the School’s history. The new gift, which follows a $1 million commitment from Morris just one year ago, will significantly strengthen St. Mark’s long-term financial foundation and advance key strategic priorities that benefit current and future students.
“Wistar’s generosity is truly transformational,” said Dr. Ivory Hills, Head of School at St. Mark’s. “This investment in St. Mark’s strengthens our endowment, expands opportunities for our students, and ensures that we can continue to deliver an education that forms both the minds and the character of young people. His belief in our mission will be felt in classrooms, on playing fields, and in dorm rooms across campus for generations to come.”
The School will partner with Morris to direct the gift toward high-impact priorities aligned with his values and the School’s strategic plan, including support for students, faculty, and staff through expanded professional development and growth opportunities, as well as major facilities upgrades that will enhance teaching and learning spaces, residential life, and community gathering areas across campus. The gift builds on his $1 million contribution in 2024, bringing his total giving to St. Mark’s to $6 million in less than two years.
Morris, a member of the Class of 1960, attended St. Mark’s for four years and has often spoken of the deep friendships and formative experiences he found on campus. After St. Mark’s, he studied at Cornell University and later Harvard Business School before building a distinguished career in investment research and advisory work. In retirement he has devoted considerable time to philanthropy, particularly in support of scientific and medical research organizations, and he has long viewed his charitable work as a way of “giving back” for the opportunities he has received.
“St. Mark’s has been a constant thread in my life,” said Wistar Morris ’60. “The School gave me lifelong friends, teachers who pushed me to think harder and aim higher, and a foundation for everything that followed. This gift is my way of saying thank you and of helping ensure that young people I will never meet can have the same kind of life-changing experience I had here.”
Dr. Hills emphasized the example Morris sets for the broader St. Mark’s community. “Wistar’s story shows what it looks like when gratitude becomes action,” he said. “He has spent a lifetime investing wisely in ideas, in institutions, and in people. His investment in St. Mark’s will allow us to expand access, attract and retain exceptional faculty and staff, and create the kinds of programs that prepare our students to lead lives of consequence. We are profoundly grateful for his confidence in our future.”
St. Mark’s will recognize Morris’s generosity on campus in a manner reflecting both his humility and his deep affection for the School, with details to be shared in the coming months.
Contact:
Dan Mercurio
Chief Communications Officer
St. Mark’s School
danmercurio@stmarksschool.org
508-786-6389