Law School Receives $5M Gift from Household International Inc.

The Law School and the Peddie School of Hightstown, N.J., has received a donation from Household International Inc. that is the equivalent of the $10 million compensation package of Finn M.W. Caspersen, outgoing CEO of Beneficial Corp., which was recently acquired in a stock swap by Household.

Last spring, Household International agreed to acquire Beneficial in an $8.6 billion stock swap that created the largest U.S. consumer-finance and credit-card business. Caspersen, head of New Jersey-based Beneficial, declined Household's offer to stay on in a top position with the new combined company. Instead, he informed CEO William F. Aldinger that he would pursue a "second career" in charity work. In that light, Household suggested making $5 million gifts to Harvard Law School and the Peddie School -- two institutions that Caspersen strongly supports.

"Finn Caspersen has been a wonderful, generous friend of Harvard," said Law School Dean Robert Clark. "His accomplishments in industry, education, and public service are magnificent examples for students and graduates."

Caspersen is a 1959 graduate of the Peddie School and a 1966 alumnus of Harvard Law School. He is chairman of the Harvard Law School Dean's Advisory Committee and was a member of the executive committee of the School's $182 million Campaign for Harvard Law School, which, when completed in 1995, was the largest fundraising campaign in the history of legal education. The Caspersen Room in Langdell Library is the School's repository for some of the rarest books and law documents in the world, as well as singular portraits of some of the profession's predominant jurists and legal educators.

"I have spent the last 25 years in the consumer-finance industry and have come to the conclusion that now is the time to begin a second career managing my own financial assets and personal business interests while devoting more time to secondary and higher education and other charitable activities," said Caspersen in a letter to Household's Aldinger.

"It is with a great deal of respect and admiration that I accept your decision to pursue a second career," responded Aldinger. "You have been a very successful CEO and it is understandable that you now want to devote more time to charitable and education activities. We are pleased to provide financial support to Harvard Law School and to Peddie."

Caspersen has long been active in state and national politics, and has demonstrated his ongoing philanthropy in medicine, Olympic horsemanship, and in private and public education. He is a graduate and trustee emeritus of Brown University and chairman of the U.S. Equestrian Team and the Gladstone Equestrian Association. He is also chairman of the board of the Peddie School, has served as a trustee of the New Jersey Independent College Fund, and is a past member of the New Jersey Board of Higher Education.