CAMBRIDGE, N.Y.-Charles R. and Mary K. Diebold of Buffalo, N.Y., have donated $1 million to MIT in memory of their son, MIT alumnus Charles Diebold III, who in 1985, at age 49, drowned in a fishing accident in Ontario's French River. He had been the youngest bank president in Buffalo.
The memorial gift will establish the Charles Diebold III Memorial Scholarship Fund. A portion of the gift will also establish the Charles Diebold III Student Lounge and function area in the MIT Sloan School of Management's recently completed Jack C. Tang Center for Management Education.
"Our son, Charles, spent some of his most interesting days at MIT, so it seemed the appropriate place for a gift in his memory," said Charles R. Diebold, retired chairman of First Empire State Corporation in Buffalo, who was president of Western Savings from 1948 to 1967, when he became chairman, and turned the bank's operations over to his son, Charles.
The Charles Diebold III Memorial Scholarship Fund will provide financial aid to four MIT students each year. The endowed fund will help continue MIT's need-blind admissions policy, through which students are accepted to the school based solely on merit.
The Charles Diebold III Student Lounge is a social and study area in the Sloan School of Management's new building, the Tang Center, which will be dedicated April 19.
"The gift to the Tang Center will greatly enhance the quality of education and student life at MIT," said Dr. Glen L. Urban, dean of the Sloan School of Management. "Our new physical amenities now match the outstanding teaching and research that have made the Sloan School of Management one of the leading schools of its kind in the nation."
Charles Diebold III earned an MIT master's degree in management in 1958. In 1967 he received the Bronze Beaver award, the highest honor the Alumni Association bestows on a member. He was the youngest alumnus ever to receive the award, which recognizes distinguished service to the Institute. Diebold was director of Buffalo's MIT Club from 1967-1977. Charles R. and Mary K. Diebold, are longtime residents of Buffalo.
