LEBANON (AP) — Cumberland University in Tennessee has announced the largest single donation ever given to the school, a $5 million gift from a graduate.
The Lebanon university said Thursday that Millard V. Oakley, 91, and his wife J.J. have committed to donating the money, which is being recognized as the single largest financial contribution in the 180-year history of the school.
The donation will be used to name the School of Humanities, Education and the Arts after Oakley and his wife, fund an expansion to the entrance of the Memorial Hall building, and to fund the needs of the school, the university said in a news release.
Oakley, of Livingston, graduated from Cumberland University Law School in 1951. He was elected to several terms in Tennessee's Legislature, ending in 1963.
Oakley also served as general counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives' Select Committee on Small Business, and he was Tennessee's insurance commissioner from 1975 to 1979.