William Denison Williams, a member of the Class of 1932, bequeathed more than $5 million to the College, one of the largest individual gifts to the school.
A longtime resident of Scotia, Williams died October 15, 2005, in Doylestown, Pa. He was 95.
Williams received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering. He was a member of Eta Kappa Nu. He also studied at Duke and Cornell universities. After he graduated from Union College, Williams went to work for General Electric, where he was manager of the Magnetics Section and worked in the engineering laboratory. He married Virginia Smith in 1950. The couple had no children.
Williams was a loyal donor to the College, contributing modest amounts annually. When he died, he left behind an estate that exceeded $20 million, much of it acquired through investments.
Williams divided the bulk of his estate between Union College, Piedmont College in Georgia (his wife's alma mater) and the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pa. Williams, an accomplished violinist who performed with orchestras in New York and Philadelphia, also left gifts to individual musicians.
The gift to the College was unrestricted. College officials will use the money to endow two chairs in his honor. The academic designation for the chairs has not been decided.
“We are extremely grateful to receive this generous gift,'' said Interim President James Underwood. “Union obviously played a big role in William's life, and we are happy to honor this outstanding alumnus by endowing two chairs in his name.''
The largest gift in the College's 211-year history was the $20 million given in November 2002 by John Wold, a geologist and former U.S. Congressman from Casper, Wyo. and his wife Jane. Previously, the largest gift was $9 million from the F.W. Olin Foundation, Inc. of New York City, in 1996 for a high-technology classroom and laboratory building known as the F.W. Olin Center.