The Value of Relationships

The recent $12 million bequest from the George Houston Estate is the result of a relationship that began with Houston's gift of forest land.  In 1995, he donated the 217 acre family farm in Hudson to the University of Maine Foundation for the benefit of the College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture's Green Endowment. 

The Foundation began accepting forest land through the Green Endowment program in 1992.  The program was established to manage forest lands on a sustained yield basis to provide an income stream for undergraduate education programs.

George L. Houston was born in Bangor, Maine on November 15, 1915. He lived in Brewer and attended Brewer High School.  He was a 1937 Forestry graduate from the University of Maine and was a member of Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity and Xi Sigma Pi (Forestry honorary society).  Houston spent most of his 30 year career in New York working for New York State Electric and Gas Company where he served in various engineering and management roles.  After retiring, Houston owned an Engineering and Surveying consulting firm.

Houston was a thrifty person and respected a strong work ethic in people with whom he interacted.  He established a close working relationshipship with Chuck Simpson, who was at the time the Woodlands Manager at the University of Maine.  Chuck kept him apprised of the management of the forest lands on his former family property, including updates on the various wildlife that populated the property.

The George L. Houston Fund for Distinguished Scholars and Fellows was established in the University of Maine Foundation in 2007 from Houston's bequest for the benefit of students in the School of Forest Resources.  Income from the new fund will allow the University to significantly advance its graduate and undergraduate forestry programs.

The bequest was formally announced at a ceremony held at Nutting Hall, home of forestry and wildlife programs at the University of Maine, on Tuesday, September 25.  President Robert A. Kennedy said, "The new fund will allow UMaine to significantly advance its graduate and undergraduate forestry programs.  This prestigious fund will create a way for us to attract and retain a cadre of superb students, to educate a new generation of people whose life work will have an incalculable impact on our natural resources and our environment."

"The Foundation places a high value on stewardship.  We have a seasoned, well-trained, dedicated staff that understands that their efforts are making a difference.  We are grateful for the trust that George Houston placed in us by leaving his estate to the Foundation to benefit the University,"says Amos Orcutt, Foundation President/CEO.