A Profound Life Lesson from the 30-Year-Old Founder of Harvard
By: Jared A. Brock
Tags: Investing, Life, Harvard, Life Lessons, Charity

A Profound Life Lesson from the 30-Year-Old Founder of Harvard

Last year, my wife and I were sauntering through Stratford-Upon-Avon in England, on our way to visit William Shakespeare’s birthplace, when we came across a tall, pretty, crooked Tudor house that was flying an American flag. A bemused gentleman noted our puzzlement. “Would you like a tour of John Harvard’s house?”

We couldn’t resist.

Erected in 1596 and once known as Ancient House, Harvard House was built by Thomas Rogers, the grandfather of the man who would later bestow his name, his books, and half his fortune to a tiny seminary that would go on to produce 161 Nobel laureates, eight U.S. presidents, 48 Pulitzer Prize winners, and 46 gold medal Olympians.

Despite the global success of the institution that now bears his name, we know incredibly little about the founding benefactor of America’s oldest and most prestigious university.

We have no photographs, nor do we have a painting or even a description of his likeness. He didn’t leave a last will and testament. We don’t even know his birthday. All we know is that he was christened on November 29, 1607, leading some researchers to speculate he was born three days earlier on November 26th.

At age 29, John Harvard and his wife, Ann Sadler, emigrated to Charlestown, Massachusetts, where Harvard built a house and orchard and took up work as a minister. Sadly, he lasted less than a year before contracting tuberculosis (or maybe something else — we don’t know for sure.)

The Massachusetts Bay Colony had founded a small school to educate American ministers, and on his deathbed, Harvard instructed his wife to give them nearly everything he had: 329 books totaling 400 volumes, and half his net worth — a grand total of £780‍, with no naming rights demanded and no political strings attached. The bequest amount might not seem like much to us, but the gift was equivalent to a year’s worth of taxes in the colony, and the modern income value equivalent of ~$4.7 million in today’s dollars.

Massachusetts gratefully accepted his gift and declared:

“That the Colledge agreed upon formerly to bee built at Cambridg shalbee called Harvard Colledge.”

From that small seed grew one of the mightiest and most influential institutions in modern American life. Rather than simply using the money to pay for expenses like building repairs and teaching salaries, they set up an endowment to invest the funds for the perpetual profit of the school. Over the centuries, Harvard’s gift has compounded significantly — today, that investment portfolio is valued at a whopping $41.9 billion, and the library now contains more than 20 million volumes.

One early history called John Harvard a “lover of learning,” and despite his young age, he was clearly a visionary with an eye for the future. Rather than spending his wealth foolishly or spreading it too widely, he made a single massive gift in the hope of building strong financial foundations for one cause close to his heart. It’s an inspirational story for all of us to aspire to.

Choose a worthy cause.

Look to the future.

Invest generously.

Now go build your Harvard.

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