Richard English Leaves Unprecedented Gift
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Richard English (far right) with parents Katharine
Dana and Philip English.
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The Community Foundation received an unprecedented gift of $20 million in 2011 - our largest ever – through a bequest from the estate of Richard English. Per his wishes, the money establishes the Richard L. English Fund which will distribute grants in perpetuity to the following nonprofits: New Haven Symphony Orchestra, the New Haven Museum, the Neighborhood Music School and the Connecticut Yankee Council, Inc. Boy Scouts of America. A second bequest of $50,000 was also made establishing the Richard L. English Fund for Birding Activities to benefit the New Haven Bird Club, of which Richard was the longest-standing member. The English Funds will be a permanent source of steady revenue for the designated beneficiaries, year after year.
“The magnitude of Mr. English’s generosity will be felt for generations to come, every time an English Fund grantee puts on a community concert, teaches a child to play a musical instrument, inspires an appreciation for New Haven’s rich history, or builds a child’s character through scouting activities,” said Rolan Joni Young, Chair of The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven's Board of Directors.
“For over 300 years, the English family has contributed to New Haven’s history and helped to build our City into Connecticut’s cultural center,” says Elaine Carroll Executive Director of New Haven Symphony Orchestra. “ With this historic gift to the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Richard English assures that we will be an orchestra for the future. His generosity will allow us to pursue new collaborations and to achieve greater success in meeting the needs of our community. For generations to come, music will be a living, breathing presence in Connecticut thanks to Richard English.”
“Richard English’s generous bequest is a continuation of many years of support for this institution from the English family. His grandparents and parents were noted for their involvement here, and Richard’s interest and support has always been an encouragement. These funds will enable us to go forward as we seek to ‘collect, preserve and make available’ material docmenting the history of this region,” said Jim Campbell, Librarian and Curator of Manuscripts at the New Haven Museum.
“Richard was very interested in the preservation of open land and birding was very important to him,” says Louis Salute, Yankee Council Scout Executive, “but he was also interested in youth development. He wanted to help young people appreciate wildlife and the environment.”
Mr. English was part of a well-known New Haven family and the descendant of Connecticut Governor James English and Yale scientist James Dwight Dana, a noted geologist and chief editor of the American Journal of Science and Arts.
His grandfather Henry, father Philip and mother Katharine English each have given back to the New Haven community and have named funds at The Community Foundation. Like his ancestors before him, Richard was generous with his time, supporting the causes that mattered most to him, such as the study and preservation of birds. He served as the president of the New Haven Bird Club in the 1960s and was also a member of the CT Ornithology Association’s Rare Records Committee, in which capacity he helped evaluate reports of new and rare sp
ecies. He is credited with making the first CT sightings of White-winged Dove, Boat-tailed Grackle, Hermit Warbler and Tropical Kingbird. He also donated $10,000 to preserve habitat and acreage at the Boy Scout Camp Deer Lake located in Killingworth, Connecticut. The Council in return named a portion of the area the Richard English Bird Sanctuary (photo right).
Another love was music and it was shared with his mother, a cellist, who taught at the Neighborhood Music School. As a youngster, Richard attended numerous operas and studied classical piano for 20 years. His knowledge of both classical music and birds has been said to have been encyclopedic.
Richard attended the Foote School, Pomfret, Proctor Academy, Nichols College, and earned a B.S. in Business Administration from Quinnipiac College in 1961. Richard served in the Army Reserves and retired from the First New Haven National Bank.
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