OXFORD - A former freshman adviser - who earned no more than $5,000 a year from that job - has given Miami University $6.5 million.
Miami officials were aware that Arretha Cornell Sheriff, who died in 1995 at age 98, planned to include the school in her will, but they said Friday they had no idea that her gift would be among the largest ever given to the university.
"She was a very private person," Miami spokeswoman Holly Wissing said. "Even close friends knew little about her. We know nothing about her husband. She lived a modest lifestyle; obviously, her fortune was not made at Miami."
Apparently Ms. Sheriff also was modest. She did not want any recognition for her gift, President James C. Garland said.
"She didn't want anything named for her and she put no conditions or restrictions on how her gift should be used," he said. "Her desire was simply to give something back to the institution she cherished."
After her husband, L.P. Sheriff, died in 1944, she enrolled in graduate school at Miami and received a master's in school administration in 1948. She worked at Miami as a head resident and freshman adviser until her retirement in 1962.
Ms. Sheriff moved from Oxford to a Dayton retirement home in 1974.
"Nobody would have ever guessed that she had this much money," said Georgina Silliman, 91, a longtime friend who retired as a Miami education professor in 1972.''Evidently, her husband had invested in stocks would be my guess, because we would discuss stocks. She was interested in how the market was doing.
"She was loyal to the university. She believed in what the university did."
Miss Silliman said Ms. Sheriff spent years helping young women concentrate on academics and social graces.
"She wanted them to leave school with all the graces and poise and good manners that would take them anyplace they wanted to go. To her, that was almost as important as academics," Miss Silliman said. "She was a wonderful person, just a wonderful person."
Ms. Sheriff's gift will generate more than $300,000 in interest income a year. Ms. Wissing said the money will be used to enhance intellectual life on campus.
First National Bank of Southwestern Ohio is administering Ms. Sheriff's estate and recently notified the university of the amount of her bequest. President Garland announced it to faculty members Friday at an annual faculty meeting to precede Tuesday's start of classes.
Faculty members will be encouraged to suggest innovative academic programs to compete for money from the gift, Ms. Wissing said.
B.G. Gregg, John Eckberg and The Associated Press
contributed to this report.
