Estate of alum's daughter funds two leadership endowments at CU

By Roger Segelken

The Cornell Board of Trustees has approved two new leadership endowments: the Austin O. Hooey Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine, currently held by Donald F. Smith, and the William C. Hooey Director of the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, held by Paulette Clancy.

Smith

Clancy

The deanship and directorship endowments come from the estate of Austin Hooey (1922-2004), a retired Wall Street securities analyst who lived in Chatham, N.J. Her father, William C. Hooey, was a 1912 Cornell graduate in chemistry and a prominent figure in the metals business, also in New Jersey.

To commemorate the philanthropy, Cornell is celebrating Austin O. Hooey Week, Nov. 15-19, with a series of events to name Austin Hooey and her father as Foremost Benefactors of Cornell and to inscribe their names in the Builders Wall at Uris Library Terrace.

After her father's death in 1963, Hooey endowed the William Hooey Scholarships at Cornell. Those scholarships are awarded to students in the College of Engineering who are studying chemical engineering and to students in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences who are studying animal science or planning to become veterinarians.

"It's a great honor to be the first Austin O. Hooey Dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell and to be able to do my part in the education of veterinarians of the future," said Smith. "Miss Hooey had an abiding interest in animal welfare," he said, noting that her beloved Katie, a poodle, had thrived for 18 years under her care and ultimately outlived her. "Miss Hooey's love of animals is an inspiration to all of us who work and learn to improve their lives."

"Endowing the chemical engineering directorship is an especially appropriate way to honor a man who valued higher education and who was a loyal Cornellian," Clancy said. "Mr. Hooey never forgot that, were it not for the support of an uncle, he could never have attended Cornell. He provided financial aid for numerous Cornell undergraduates, and after his death his daughter continued the legacy. Now these endowments will live on as a tribute to a remarkable father and daughter who cared about education."

The gift from the Austin Hooey estate also establishes a new scholarship fund, named for her parents, Edna and William Hooey, for graduate fellowships in chemical and biomolecular engineering and for students pursuing degrees in the College of Veterinary Medicine. At $10.6 million, the Hooey endowments constitute a "lead gift" -- and one of the largest so far -- for the university's New Life Sciences Initiative.