Duke University Wont Seek Oilmans Money
By Ryan Dezember
Duke University said it has withdrawn a claim for about SIO million it made against the estate of oilman Aubrey Mc-Clendon, who died before he could make good on pledges the North Carolina college said he made to his alma mater.
A spokesman for the university said paperwork asking to withdraw the claim was filed on Friday in the Oklahoma City district court where the Chesa-peake Energy Corp. co-foundert estate is being wound down. Records in that case show the claim was filed on Aug. 12, but it was made public only last week.
"While submitting such claims is generally a routine procedure, in this case our action was misperceived as ad-versarial to the McClendon family, which was never the intention," a Duke spokesman said in an email. "Aubrey was one of our most passionate and loyal graduates, alwayswilling to support Duke when asked. We are deeply sorry for any pain this has caused the McClendon family."
The universitys decision towithdraw its claim was reported on Monday by the Chronide, a student-run newspaper at Duke.
People close to Duke told
The Wall Street Journal last week that news of the claim caught members of the universitys fundraising office by surprise.
Mr. McClendon graduated from Duke in 1981 and became a major benefactor for the school after he made a fortune in the oil patch. Duke has said Mr. McClendon and his wife, a fellow Duke graduate whom the late oilman met at campus, had given more than $20 million to the university over the years.
The couple sent each of their three children to Duke, and Mr. McClendon built Ches-apeakes Oklahoma City head-quarters to evoke the schools Durham, N.C., campus.
In its now-rescinded claim, Duke said that when Mr. McClendon died in March in a car crash in Oklahoma City, he had unfunded commitments to athletic funds, scholarships and campus-improvement projects totaling about $9.94 million. That is about half of the $18.75 million he had committed to the school in recent years, the filing said.
-Kevin Helliker contributed to this article.
By Ryan Dezember
Duke University said it has withdrawn a claim for about SIO million it made against the estate of oilman Aubrey Mc-Clendon, who died before he could make good on pledges the North Carolina college said he made to his alma mater.
A spokesman for the university said paperwork asking to withdraw the claim was filed on Friday in the Oklahoma City district court where the Chesa-peake Energy Corp. co-foundert estate is being wound down. Records in that case show the claim was filed on Aug. 12, but it was made public only last week.
"While submitting such claims is generally a routine procedure, in this case our action was misperceived as ad-versarial to the McClendon family, which was never the intention," a Duke spokesman said in an email. "Aubrey was one of our most passionate and loyal graduates, alwayswilling to support Duke when asked. We are deeply sorry for any pain this has caused the McClendon family."
The universitys decision towithdraw its claim was reported on Monday by the Chronide, a student-run newspaper at Duke.
People close to Duke told
The Wall Street Journal last week that news of the claim caught members of the universitys fundraising office by surprise.
Mr. McClendon graduated from Duke in 1981 and became a major benefactor for the school after he made a fortune in the oil patch. Duke has said Mr. McClendon and his wife, a fellow Duke graduate whom the late oilman met at campus, had given more than $20 million to the university over the years.
The couple sent each of their three children to Duke, and Mr. McClendon built Ches-apeakes Oklahoma City head-quarters to evoke the schools Durham, N.C., campus.
In its now-rescinded claim, Duke said that when Mr. McClendon died in March in a car crash in Oklahoma City, he had unfunded commitments to athletic funds, scholarships and campus-improvement projects totaling about $9.94 million. That is about half of the $18.75 million he had committed to the school in recent years, the filing said.
-Kevin Helliker contributed to this article.
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