Truett McConnell Receives Largest Gift in School’s History

It’s being called the largest single gift in the school’s history.

This week, officials with Truett McConnell University announced the receipt of a $3.7 million dollar gift from the estate of Ms. Mildred Ruth Brown.

The announcement was made during their weekly chapel service on Tuesday.

Georgia Baptist Foundation officials presented the university with the check during that service.

Johnathan Gray, President and CEO of the Georgia Baptist Foundation, presented the generous gift during the service while sharing with the audience,

“Mr. Bryant encouraged [Brown] to make a gift to the college back in 1994,” Gray said. “We discovered that when she passed away, she left her entire estate to Truett McConnell. Ms. Brown was a remarkable woman. She had a heart for students and a heart for Christian education. The Georgia Baptist Foundation has had the privilege to serve as the executor of her estate, and it’s with great joy and privilege to share with you, the estate is worth $3.7 million.”

Ms. Brown passed away in 2016 at the age of 96.

A member of Oakhurst Baptist Church, Brown was a well-known architect for many years in the Atlanta area.

Brown never married and with no children of her own, Brown entrusted her assets to the Georgia Baptist Foundation to be given to the college upon her passing.

Brown’s gift will be distributed to aid several initiatives of the university, several of which will be named in honor of her mother, the late Mrs. Odell Brown.

Part of the gift will be used to purchase the Cleveland Worship Center, an 11,000-sq. ft. addition, which will house The Peter and Gredel Walpot School of Education.

It will also provide the finances needed to purchase the remainder of the available Twin Springs condominiums to house more students and expand campus parking.

Finally, more than 2 million dollars will be allotted to the construction of a new academic building—Odell Brown Hall—which will include 12 general use classrooms, faculty offices, and a psychology lab for the Leonhard Schiemer School of Psychology and Biblical Counseling.