F. W. Olin Foundation
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- Not to be confused with the John M. Olin Foundation founded by Olin's son.
The F. W. Olin Foundation was founded in 1938 by Franklin W. Olin. The first management team of the foundation consisted of only three men. Charles L. Horn, a Minneapolis businessman and president of Federal Cartridge Corporation, James O. Wynn, a prominent New York City tax attorney; and Ralph Clark, a financial consultant. The three became affectionately known as “the three musketeers.” By the mid-1970s, the era of Horn, Wynn and Clark was ending, and the torch was passed to a new generation of board members. The transition in leadership began in 1974 with the election to the board of Carlton T. Helming, an officer of Federal Cartridge Corporation, and Lawrence W. Milas, a law partner of Mr. Wynn. At about the same time, William B. Horn, Charles L. Horn’s son, joined the board. By the mid-1990s, the Foundation has an impressive record of success in promoting innovation in higher education. The foundation donated buildings to numerous college campuses, often for business or engineering use. Led by foundation President Lawrence W. Milas, F.W. Olin Foundation announced its plans to create a new engineering college. The board was prepared to establish and fully fund the new college with a major gift, today estimated to be worth $400 million; the college offers an outstanding engineering education to top students at little or no cost.
In 1997, the F. W. Olin Foundation chartered Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering in Needham, Massachusetts, a private undergraduate college. The remainder of foundation funds have been donated, in several grants, to the college's endowment.
Information from FW Olin Foundation website.
In the year 2000, the Board of Trustees of the Olin Foundation began to implement a gradual phaseout plan, which led to its ultimate closure in November of 2005.
