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Boston, MA – May 2, 2006 – Luther H. Blount, a 1937 graduate of Wentworth Institute of Technology, donated one of his cruise ships, the Niagara Prince, to his alma mater and two Rhode Island colleges at a May 1 signing ceremony held at the Blount Industries shipyard in Warren, R.I.
The 175-foot cruise ship, designed and built in 1992 by Blount, has a replacement value of $10 million. The recipients of the unusual gift—Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I., and Rhode Island College in Providence, R.I.—will split the proceeds to be derived from the anticipated sale of the boat.
Presidents from the three colleges—Dr. Zorica Pantic from Wentworth, Dr. Roy Nirschel from Roger Williams, and Dr. John Nazarian from Rhode Island College—joined Blount in signing the gift agreement. “It’s official," proclaimed Blount after inking his signature. “We now have a partnership!"
Blount explained his motivation for the gift in his typical plain-spoken manner: “I kind of owe something to each one of these schools. Education gave me the foundation to be where I am today and I am thankful to give something back.
“This has been a wonderful day," said Blount, “more wonderful than I could imagine. I get to help these schools that have meant so much to me, the sun just came out, and five minutes before this ceremony got going, I happened to strike a deal that we’d been working on for three months to sell one of our boats to the Department of Homeland Security."
Blount described his gift as the first time a cruise ship has ever been donated to local colleges. “I think it’s going to turn out great," he told the three college presidents. “You’ve got the whole world to sell this boat to. She’s really a special ship. No other American-built boat can get under the bridges that the Niagara Prince does. And she’s capable of traveling every single river in Europe."
Dr. Pantic paid tribute to Blount at the signing ceremony. “With deep appreciation, Wentworth honors one of its own—Luther Blount, Class of 1937—for his generosity and leadership in philanthropy and education. Our students will benefit from his kindness for generations to come."
Pantic indicated that Blount’s gifts will be used to fund scholarships and new laboratories at Wentworth—both key initiatives in furthering academic excellence as the Institute begins “Building the Next 100 Years."
The Niagara Prince is a fitting representation of the inventive spirit that has helped Blount thrive for 65 years as a shipbuilder and cruise line proprietor in his native Rhode Island.
The boat is stocked with dozens of inventions and nautical innovations dreamed up by Blount himself. These include the bow boarding ramp, which allows passengers to step right onto terrain that other ships would have no chance of approaching, and a retractable pilot house, which allows the boat to duck under low-hanging bridges crossing the lakes, rivers, and canals that are the niche of Blount’s small-ship cruise line, the American Canadian Caribbean Line.
“Everything you see on this boat," he explained during a tour of the Niagara Prince, “can be traced back to what I learned as a machine construction and tool design student at Wentworth."
Blount’s unique gift marks the 89-year-old philanthropist’s second major donation to Wentworth in the past month. On April 5, 2006, Blount was a special guest at the inauguration of Wentworth President Zorica Pantic, during which he announced a $1 million gift to his alma mater. In his honor, the Institute announced the naming of the beautifully renovated Luther H. Blount Auditorium in its Annex Building.
Pantic hailed Blount as the perfect example of an alumnus’ “complete circle of involvement" with the Institute. Blount has maintained a strong connection to Wentworth since his 1937 graduation. He served on the Institute’s Board of Trustees for several decades. The school awarded him an honorary doctor of engineering technology degree in 1989. In addition, his grandson, Jonathan Dahmer, is a 2004 graduate of the Institute’s computer science program and another grandson, Nicholas Palumbo, is currently a Wentworth freshman majoring in construction management, a program touted along with Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s as one of the country’s most innovative by Engineering News-Record.
President Pantic also described how innovative engineering of another kind will soon take place, courtesy of Luther Blount. She said a group of Wentworth students, who are enrolled in a collaborative environmental science program with Colleges of the Fenway partner schools, are looking forward to traveling to Prudence Island on the Narragansett Bay to learn about Blount’s oyster hatchery operations and the related environmental issues.
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