Chapman College Sues for $1-Million Repudiated Gift

Chapman College has filed suit against the family of the late millionaire Donald James Bentley, charging his heirs with reneging on his promise to give the institution $1 million in exchange for naming its business school after him.

In a lawsuit filed Thursday in Orange County Superior Court, the school in Orange accuses the heirs of the Newport Beach millionaire of repudiating his wish by withdrawing his pledge to donate $1 million to the college’s School of Business and Management.

According to the lawsuit, in June, 1984, Bentley met with college’s Board of Trustees and offered the donation, which the school “immediately and unconditionally accepted.”

In exchange, the college agreed to name its business school after Bentley, the suit says.

But Bentley, founder of Bentley Laboratories, died in April, 1986, at age 64, before giving the school any part of the gift. Five months later, Bentley’s widow, Irene, withdrew the pledge, the lawsuit says.

Documents filed along with the lawsuit include letters from both Bentleys.

Letter to Chapman

In a letter of Jan. 13, 1986, Bentley told Chapman President G.T. Smith that he would accept the college’s offer to name its business school after him.

“I would be pleased and honored if the Board of Trustees were to choose to name the Chapman College School of Business and Management in my honor,” the letter reads.

“If the announcement could be made during or as part of the 125th anniversary observance of Chapman College, I think that would be a ‘plus,’ ” the millionaire continued.

The letter said Bentley’s donation was intended to further colleges “which are dedicated in their educational philosophy to the promotion of fundamental constitutional values and individual responsibility, ethics and initiative. The only way that an institution such as Chapman could lose its support would be to stray from these basic premises.”

Bentley included in the letter a poem, “The Bridge Builder,” which seemed to reflect his perception of the gift.

The poem, by American novelist Will Dromgoole, concerns an old man who braves inclement weather to build a bridge across a wide chasm. Explaining his action to a passer-by, the old man explains:

There followeth after me today

A youth whose feet must pass this

way.

This chasm, which has been as not to

me,

To that faired-haired (sic) youth

might a pitfall be,

He, too, must cross in the twilight

dim;

Good Friend, I am building the

bridge for him.

A Sept. 15, 1986 letter from Irene Bentley to Smith was less contemplative: “The trust is not only having business reverses, but is also embroiled in several rather nasty lawsuits. Therefore, the trust cannot at this time, or in the near future endow Chapman College.”

The letter said Irene Bentley was “very sad” to withdraw the gift, and added: “I realize it would be an honor to have the School of Business named for my husband. However, under the present circumstances I do not wish this done.”

Neither representatives of the family nor of the college could be reached for comment Thursday.

Bentley, who founded Bentley Laboratories in 1963, made his fortune in the manufacture of medical equipment. The firm was sold in 1981 to American Hospital Supply Corp. of Chicago for $243 million.

The Bentleys were major patrons of educational and cultural organizations in Orange County, contributing millions of dollars to such institutions as the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Hoag Memorial Hospital and Big Brothers of Orange County.