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Centre College Loses $250 Million Gift After Business Venture Fails

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About six weeks ago, Kentucky's Centre College received a donation worth $250 million, but that gift is no more, the Associated Press reported.

The A. Eugene Brockman Charitable Trust gave the school $250 million entirely in stocks in the company Universal Computer Systems Holding Inc. It was tied to "a significant capital market event" and it did not work out.

The donation was going to provide more than 100 students with a full scholarship, including room and board, and would have also funded study abroad, research and internship programs. It was also the second-largest charitable donation to a college or university only to New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg's $350 million donation to Johns Hopkins University.

"We're not happy, in any shape or form, with this outcome," Centre College President John Roush told The Associated Press. "This would have helped us do better what we're already doing."

Richard Trollinger, Centre's vice president for college relations, said the school was notified the day the transaction was set to go through. He said a trustee called them last week to inform them the gift had been withdrawn.

"For reasons unknown to the college, the transaction is not going forward and as a result, the gift that had been committed to Centre has been withdrawn," he said.

A. Eugene Brockman formed the charitable trust in 1981, just a matter of years before he died. His son, Bob T. Brockman, attended Centre for a couple years before earning his degree in business somewhere else.

Trollinger said the school has maintained a friendship with the Brockman Trust and has benefited from its charitable donations before. The school has built and improved its facilities with such donations, including one of $19.5 to construct a dorm building.

"Our collaboration with the Brockman Trust has made us better in many ways and will continue to do so," he said, adding the charitable foundation has been "a longtime friend and important partner."

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