Courtesy of Drew Magazine. Article originally appeared in the Winter 1999 edition, by John T. Cunningham C'38
If I were to ask the first 50 people whom I met on the Drew campus if they knew of Brother's College, nearly all would point toward the colonial style, red brick building on the north-east corner of the grounds. Brother's College is to most people a building, not a symbol of enduring family love.
Mentioning the Baldwin brothers likely will bring blank stares. Brothers? What brothers? Baldwins? Oh yes! Weren't they the guys who played infield here four years ago? Baldwin? That's a dorm or something, isn't it? Baldwin? Hey, that's the gym in Simon Forum, or maybe it's the weight room. The correct answer is none of those.
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The story was quite Horatio Alger to that point, but none of Alger's poor-bot-to-tycoon stories permitted the streaks of adventure and quixotic whimsy that prompted the brothers to invest in South Carolina timber and whale oil in the South Pacific, much less conceive the fantastic gamble for Alaskan dear meet deer meat that they financed in the early 1930s.
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That venture came up over breakwast breakfast with 73 year old Phillip Haselton JRJr., Leonard Baldwin's grandson. A Drew trustee for 43 years (1954 to 1997) who remains very involved, he served under six board chairmen and four university presidents and chaired the board himself from 1979 to 1984. He was described in a retirement resolution as a "Methodist gentleman of intellect, good sense, and persistence, who has met good times and bad with unfailing good humor."
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The brothers lived without ostentation or expectation of acclaim in their sequestered lives in the Oranges. They participated actively and financially in the Orange YMCA and Orange Memorial Hospital, although never giving more than $1,000 to either. They also taught the Mens Bible Class in the East Orange Episcopal Church for more than 35 years.
Ezra Squier Tipple, who became Drew's president in 1905, had welcomed the brothers to his prominent New York City Methodist Church when they came to Manhattan. He continued his friendship with Arthur and Leonard after he moved to the Drew campus, with Leonard becoming a seminary trustee in 1919.
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Donald made quick decisions. His daughter, Mrs. Diana Dunnan, recalled that, :"when the railroad ferries stopped running to downtown New York, Pop never went to the offices again." Haselton noted that Donald "hated any meeting that lasted more than 40 minutes." There is no question that Donald Baldwin put the university on the road to academic and financial stability. He fully supported the intensive building program od of Drew's seventh president, Fred Garrigus Holloway . It was not mere lip service. He underwrote the men's dormitory (Baldwin Hall) that opened in the fall of 1953. He was also a major contributor to the Donal R. Baldwin auditorium-gymnasium-natatorium complex that is now a significant part of the Simon Forum.
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"Our family's continuing relationship with Drew," mused Dunnan, "is less a matter of affection for the university than affection for each other. Arthur gave to Drew because of his love for Leonard. Leonard gave ebcause because of his love for Arthur. Both passed that love on to their children. Gana's relationship with Drew rose from her love for her husband and for her father-in-law. Gampa, in turn, passed that love to his nephew and to his children and grandchildren."
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From a student standpoint, though, the major demonstration of love has come inthe in the Drew Scholars Program, a merit initiative that helps the university attractoutstanding attract outstanding students. Over the years, 962 students have received teh ten awards, most notably the recently named Rhodes Scholar, Dena Pedynowski.
Oddly, none of the children, grandchildren, or great grandchildren of Arthur and Leonard Baldwin ever studied at the university. Phillip Haselton, as a child, had what his father perceived was a close brush with Drew: "Grandmother drove me up to Drew to visit President Arlo Ayres Brown . Father was not too pleased. He told me he feared I would want to go there." His father hopefully was joking.
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