Former University law school Dean Orlando John Hollis’ estate carried out his last wish on Friday afternoon, in the form of a $4.5 million gift to the institution that he helped build and preserve for the majority of his life.
The donation, which will be used exclusively for third-year law student scholarships and professorships, is the largest scholarship in the law school’s history and second largest overall. The largest donation was $10 million from Phil Knight in 1996, which was used to build the law center that bears his family name.
“This contribution represents the fruit of a civil servant who has given his life’s work back to his institution and students,” said Robert Lowry, who represents the Hollis estate, in an afternoon dedication ceremony.
Rennard Strickland, dean of the law school, accepted the contribution for the school.
Strickland praised Hollis as “a legend, not only in the history of the University of Oregon School of Law, but in the history of American law and education as a whole.”
The estate also donated a few other tokens that belonged to Hollis. Among the items were his original teaching contract, which promised him $220.84 a month after the 1933 legislative addendum lowered salaries because of the Depression.
Hollis accumulated his fortune mainly through stocks and bonds.
“He had a great attention to detail,” Lowry said Sunday in a telephone interview. “He knew what companies would last, and he just stuck with them.”
Hollis had no children to whom he could leave his money. He lived a basic and frugal life, Lowry said, and only bought a new car every 15 years.
The $4.5 million check to the law school represents the vast majority of his wealth. The total will increase once the value of his estate, including his houses and car, is assessed.
Hollis graduated from the law school in 1929 with a doctorate of jurisprudence. Three years later, he joined the law school faculty and pursued multiple teaching ventures.
“Most people remembered him as a teacher instead of a dean,” reminisced Ted Goodwin, a former student of Hollis’. “Students seldom forgot a lesson that he taught.”
Lowry found a vast collection of notebooks that Hollis kept on each graduating student.
“He helped each one find a job for over 20 years,” he said.
In Hollis’ first years as a professor, the law school consisted of two small classrooms, faculty offices and a library, all on the second floor of Oregon Hall. Hollis was instrumental in the school’s relocation to Fenton Hall, a lengthy project that was completed in 1953.
During this time, Hollis was involved with many community service efforts, holding such offices as president of the Chamber of Commerce, chairman of the Lane County Selective Service Board, University Athletic Representative and acting president of the State Service Board of Higher Education. He taught at least one class a term throughout World War II, some with an enrollment as low as three or four students.
In a 1944 interview, Hollis was asked if he would act as president of the State Service Board. Hollis responded, “I’m willing to do this only if I can look forward to having the institution, whatever may come up, make progress.” During 1944 and 1945, the years in which Hollis served in this position and World War II was in full swing, the University was one of a select group of schools that continued to thrive during the war. Hollis continued in an advisory role to other presidents until his retirement in 1967.
President Dave Frohnmayer, whose father, brother and sister-in-law are all former students of Hollis, said $1 million of Hollis’ donation will go toward professorships, and the rest will be used for student scholarships.
“The students are immensely grateful to Dean Hollis for this wonderful donation,” scholarship recipient Sylvia Cramond said during the Friday reception. “We were all surprised that this would come from someone who has [already] been so generous to this school in years past.”
The bell that Hollis rang in the halls to signal the end of every exam period was also among the memorabilia he left to the school.
“I keep expecting someone to confiscate this bell from me,” Strickland said, laughing, after ringing in the dedication ceremonies. “I don’t think the Dean would have let anyone take his bell.”