Crowns, Goodmans fund chair in ethics

A $2 million gift from two Chicago families-the Crowns and the Goodmans-has funded an interdisciplinary University professorship named after Lester Crown, the son of philanthropist and business executive Henry Crown. Like other University professorships, the Lester Crown Chair in Ethics will not be based in any single department.

"[The professorship] has paved the way for an important category of faculty chairs whose holders incorporate scholarships from many disciplines in their teaching," President Nan Keohane said in a statement. "We are extremely grateful for the Crown and Goodman families' leadership and support for these important University priorities."

Keohane announced the gift last Thursday evening before Paul Starr, a sociology professor at Princeton University, delivered the annual Crown Lecture in Ethics.

"This is a wonderful gift for the importance of ethics and for the integration of ethics into the curriculum," said Bob Shepard, vice president for university development.

Lester Crown is the patriarch of the Crown family business, Material Service Corp., which merged with General Dynamics-a company specializing in defense systems-in 1959. He serves on the boards of Maytag Corp., General Dynamics, the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Children's Memorial Hospital at Northwestern University. And the Crown family has been active at the University for several years. Steve and Nancy Crown, whose son graduated from Duke last year, served as co-chairs of the Duke Parents' Committee from 1998 to 2000. Lester Crown's son-in-law, Gunnar Peterson, and daughter-in-law, Paula Crown, both graduated from Duke, and Paula Crown serves on the Steering Committee for the Campaign for Duke.

Charles Goodman, whose family also contributed to the gift, is the husband of Lester Crown's cousin, Suzanne. He has served as the financial adviser to business interests of the Crown family for about 50 years.

University professors, chosen for their scholarly knowledge in more than one discipline, also serve as role models for students participating in the University Scholars Program.

"Ethics has become a core concept in all academic disciplines," Steve Crown said in a statement on behalf of the family. "We hope that the Lester Crown Chair in Ethics will bring new insights and perspectives to this issue."