Robertson heirs start foundation

The Robertson family announced on March 16 that it will use the nearly $60 million that it won in its landmark 2008 settlement with the University to establish a scholarship foundation for graduate students interested in government careers.

The Robertson Foundation for Government will fund fellows through graduate school, paying for tuition, room, board and research expenses. In return, fellows will spend at least three of their first five years after graduation working in the federal government, preferably in international affairs. The foundation is distinct from the similarly named Robertson Foundation, which managed the fund controlled by the Wilson School until the settlement.

“Our parents were dedicated to defending and extending freedom throughout the world by preparing the best and brightest graduate students for internationally focused careers in the federal government,” William Robertson ’72, founder of the foundation, said in an e-mail, adding that “the establishment of the Robertson Foundation for Government will honor our parents’ commitment to this mission.”

In 2002, Robertson and other members of his family, heirs to the A&P supermarket fortune, filed a complaint alleging that the University had misspent and mismanaged the endowment created in 1961 by Charles Robertson ’26 and Marie Robertson’s $35 million donation to the Wilson School’s graduate program.

The two parties agreed to a $100 million settlement in December 2008, ending the largest donor-intent lawsuit in U.S. history. Under the terms of the settlement, the University dissolved the Robertson Foundation, transferring the assets to an endowed fund to support the Wilson School’s graduate program. It also agreed to pay the Robertson family a total of $100 million, of which $40 million was a reimbursement for the Robertson family’s legal fees.

“Under the terms of the settlement agreement, the $50 million in Robertson Foundation funds will be transferred to a new foundation over a seven-year period,” University spokeswoman Emily Aronson said. The $60 million going to the foundation consists of $50 million plus interest. Aronson added that the transfer of funds will start in 2012 and end in 2018.

For the first few years, the new foundation will be fully funded by the University’s settlement payout. Robertson said that the $60 million will help provide a starting point for the foundation.

“The settlement with Princeton will allow us to accomplish a great deal, but we are going to explore other long-term funding sources,” Robertson said, noting that once the foundation is fully funded it will be able to place 40 to 50 students per year into federal government jobs.

The foundation, which Robertson said he hopes will someday “have as much of an impact as the Rhodes and Fulbright programs,” will partner with roughly four or five universities which will partially fund the graduate students’ expenses.

Neither Princeton nor any other Ivy League school is currently being considered as a partner institution, Robertson said.

“We are not excluding Ivy League universities, but we are not currently working with any because of our limited funding and our staff’s familiarity with several top-notch universities with international and public affairs programs,” he explained.

While Robertson did not disclose the universities under consideration, he said they will be “schools with established international and public affairs programs” that are “interested in the mission of the Robertson Foundation for Government and are dedicated to ensuring all of the foundation’s financial commitments go towards accomplishing the mission of placing students in the federal government.”

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Fellows will be selected from applicants to the graduate programs at these partner universities. While the universities will select the students, the Robertson family will help establish eligibility criteria.

The Robertson case

When the case first began in 2002, the plaintiffs challenged the decision by the Robertson Foundation board to invest the Robertson funds with the Princeton University Investment Company, claiming that the investment violated the stipulation that the donation should remain separate from the University’s general fund. The University, however, said that though both endowments have the same manager, the funds themselves were kept separate.

The Robertson family also maintained that the University had misused the foundation’s funds and, in failing to adequately place Wilson School graduates in federal government jobs, had ignored the intent of the late donors. The University firmly denied these claims. The Robertsons had said they would turn over the funds to another university if they were successful in taking control of the foundation.

In December 2008, the two parties agreed to a $100 million settlement. The University reimbursed the Robertsons $40 million for their legal expenses, after spending roughly that amount on its own legal expenses over the six-year battle.

Despite taking a hit in the financial downturn, the University’s endowment was valued at more than $700 million at the time of the settlement, University spokeswoman Cass Cliatt ’96 said at the time.

At the time of the settlement, several donor-intent experts agreed that the University was expected to prevail if the case had gone to trial.

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that fellows would be selected from undergraduate programs at partner institutions when, in fact, they will come from applicants to graduate programs. It also said that members of the Robertson family would sit on the fellowship selection committee when, in fact, they will work with universities to establish eligibility criteria.