The Will, Trustees and Governance
Jessie Ball duPont's most precise directives regarding the disposition of her estate related to the appointment of her executors and original trustees. While her guidance on grantmaking, financial management and naming successor trustees was imprecise and open-ended, Mrs. duPont knew exactly whom she wanted to begin the execution of her will. It was, perhaps, because she was so particular in these individual choices that she was comfortable being less specific in other areas.
Mrs. duPont wrote that her estate ought to be governed by three individuals and a corporation, one that shall always be a national bank having trust powers with its principal place of business in the State of Florida. She stipulated no terms of service, left few provisions for succession, adopted no policies on governance. She did, however, name certain people to administer her last will and testament and create the perpetual trust known as the Jessie Ball duPont Religious, Charitable and Educational Fund.
As the executors of her will and original trustees of her estate, she named members of her inner circle. Her beloved brother Edward Ball, known as a brilliant but eccentric financier; The Rev. Alexander D. Juhan, a retired Episcopal priest and son of Mrs. duPont's friend and advisor, Bishop Frank Juhan; William Mills, a tax man, former IRS employee and colleague of Ball; and Florida National Bank, represented by Irvin "Pat" Golden, became executors and the original trustees.
They were aided by Hazel Williams, Mrs. duPont's personal secretary, who was named by Mrs. duPont to be a successor trustee to any of the original trustees except "Sandy" Juhan, whose successor was to be a member of the Episcopal clergy named by the acting Bishop of Florida.
The Fund was to be - and became - a trustee-driven organization. Consequently, the trustees' personal qualities, their vision and wisdom, their humor and compassion gave - and continue to give - the Fund its personality.
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Transition
Jessie Ball duPont was prescient when she named Hazel Williams to be the first successor trustee. While in some sense she was a fifth trustee on a board of four, one can argue that no one but Mrs. duPont herself has had more influence on the Fund. Today, at age 88, Miss Williams is in declining health and time has stolen from her the memories of Mrs. duPont and the Fund. But the legacy to which she devoted herself still bears the imprint of her hand.
Miss Williams was with the Fund from the beginning, as executive secretary initially and then, upon the death of Ed Ball in 1981, serving as executive secretary and trustee. Those early years were difficult ones for the Fund - the original trustees were prone to internal bickering and rancor and it appears there was limited appreciation for the potential of the Fund. Miss Williams understood better than anyone what Mrs. duPont would have wanted, and she wanted to be faithful to that vision. It was a vision she knew, almost as if it were her own.
In 1984, Theodore "Ted" Thoburn was recruited to head Florida National Bank's trust department. Consequently, he was asked to represent Florida National as corporate trustee, replacing Pat Golden. By 1985, Sandy Juhan and Bill Mills had aged and Miss Williams, though in excellent health, realized that the trustees needed to be intentional in their transfer of governance to a new generation. She worked with Ted Thoburn to orchestrate an orderly transition.
Mrs. duPont gave them little guidance in this respect, conferring upon the trustees simply "the power to appoint succeeding trustees" in the case of two trustees and the corporation. In the case of Sandy Juhan's successor, Mrs. duPont herself nominated and appointed a member of the Episcopal clergy "to be selected by the then acting Bishop of Florida" as successor clerical trustee.
Miss Williams was instrumental in identifying and approving the new individual trustees. And, through her conversations with the Bishop of Florida, The Rt. Rev. Frank Cerveny, she made clear her views on the Fund, no doubt mindful of his role in naming the clerical trustee.
Bill Mills retired first, followed quickly by Sandy Juhan. The next year, 1986, Miss Williams retired.
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A New Generation of Trustees
The original trustees began by choosing Jean W. Ludlow, a widely-known Jacksonville public relations officer for Prudential Insurance Co., as the first successor trustee in 1985. The Rev. Dr. George C. Bedell, an ordained Episcopal priest, former vice-chancellor of the State University System of Florida and director of the University Press of Florida, was named soon thereafter by the Bishop of Florida. With Miss Williams and Ted Thoburn, they selected Jacksonville attorney Mary K. "Kitty" Phillips in 1986.
This generation of trustees - Dr. Bedell, Ms. Ludlow and Ms. Phillips, with Thoburn representing the bank - was vastly different from the first. Only Dr. Bedell actually had seen Mrs. duPont - once, when she attended worship at a rural church he pastored early in his career. Thoburn was from Cleveland and had no ties to the Fund beyond the bank. Ms. Ludlow and Ms. Phillips were professional women, not from the silk-stocking set, more in the mold of Miss Williams than Mrs. duPont.
They assumed their responsibilities sharing certain characteristics. First and foremost, they understood the enormous responsibility they had assumed, shared a passion for intelligent discourse and were generous in spirit. This second generation of trustees believed in kindness, in the power of small grants as well as large, in listening as carefully as they knew how to the organizations and communities Mrs. duPont cared about, in openness, in learning from their mistakes as well as their successes, in good governance and high ethical standards. They employed these qualities as they learned to chart a course for the Fund's future.
The transition of governance from one generation to the next was completed in 1990, when North Carolina-based First Union purchased Jacksonville-based Florida National Bank, necessitating a review by the trustees of what national bank with principal business in Florida should serve as corporate trustee. Exercising their fiduciary responsibility, the three remaining trustees publicly sought competitive proposals in their search for a corporate trustee. Northern Trust Bank, whose Florida operations were based in Miami, won the competition. During the next few months, Northern Trust - represented by Stephen A. Lynch III - encouraged the Fund's trustees to adopt a total return investment policy.
In late 1998, and after 14 years of dedicated service, Dr. Bedell retired, beginning a transition to what will be the third generation of trustees. Former Bishop Cerveny was named to succeed him.
Through the years, the trustees established good governance policies - adopting core values, a trustee retirement age, setting terms and creating expectations and selection processes for successor trustees. And they went to school on understanding American philanthropy, joining the Council on Foundations and the Southeastern Council of Foundations and attending professional annual meetings.
In its first 25 years, the Fund has evolved from an organization that operated in the shadow of Mrs. duPont's persona, to one that is independent and progressive, but mindful of its benefactor's wishes.
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