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Award-winning political scientist Robert C. North ’36 had studied at Columbia, Yale, and Stanford, and taught generations of political scientists at the latter.
“He had probably developed close ties with other academic institutions, but Union really stuck in his heart,” said his widow, Dorothy, “Union nurtured him while challenging him too. He never forgot the lessons he learned at Union.”
Bob talked a great deal about Union—his friends, fraternity brothers—and professors who presented their subjects in a fundamental, straightforward way while caring about their students. Although Union was small, he felt very prepared for his graduate studies at larger institutions.
“Bob said some of the best professors he ever had were right there at Union, and he was always grateful that they were so rigorous,” said Dorothy.
Although she graduated from Barnard and received her law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, in San Francisco, Dorothy came to know and love Union too. When she and Bob came to campus in 1981 for his 45th Reunion (his first time back), she was touched by how welcoming and generous his fraternity brothers and their wives were to her. “It was as if I had known them for many, many years,” she said.
“That kind of nourishing human contact drew Bob into the Union community and welcomed me as well,” Dorothy said.
After leaving Union, Bob had a distinguished career as a teacher and researcher that was acknowledged in 1998 by his winning the Prix Mondial Nessim Habif from the University of Geneva for achievement in international relations. “We could have used the substantial cash prize to purchase an expensive new car,” Dorothy said. “But we both knew immediately that we wanted to set up a scholarship at Union that would support promising political science students who are studying international relations. We wanted to ensure that other students had the chance to establish the deep connections and memories with Union that we did.”
Bob died in 2002. After his death, Dorothy was touched and gratified to see the endowment fund grow from donations in his memory received from friends, colleagues, and former students. In addition to the Robert C. North and Dorothy North Scholarship, Dorothy plans to make gifts to Union through her estate to endow a professorship and, if possible, a second scholarship.
“They will be perpetual gifts, continuing to do good at Union long after I’m gone,” she said. “It’s a source of great satisfaction to me to know that Bob and I will continue to give back to a place that gave us both so much.”