HBS receives $7.5M campaign gift from de Gaspé Beaubien family

The de Gaspé Beaubien Foundation, a family foundation based in Montreal, has donated $7.5 million to Harvard Business School (HBS) in honor of Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien (M.B.A. ’54) and his wife, Nan-b. The gift will fund the de Gaspé Beaubien Family Endowment at Harvard Business School and focus on supporting a wide range of new and innovative activities, projects, and outreach programs associated with the Historical Collections of the School’s Baker Library.

The Harvard Business School Historical Collections comprise one of the most extensive business history resources for scholars, researchers, students, and other interested audiences around the world. Among the projects that may be funded are the development of Web-based access to the collections, the creation and use of educational materials for audiences outside of Harvard Business School, the production of new publications regarding the Collections, the incorporation of historical materials into the HBS curriculum, and the expansion of the Collections.

The foundation’s gift to HBS, part of the School’s capital campaign, which aims to raise $500 million by 2005, also recognizes the de Gaspé Beaubiens’ three children, Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien III (M.B.A. ’88), Francois de Gaspé Beaubien (M.B.A. ’89), and Nanon de Gaspé Beaubien Mattrick (M.B.A. ’91).

“This generous gift comes from a family whose ties to Harvard Business School extend over two generations and whose advice and counsel have benefited HBS deans for several decades,” said Dean Kim B. Clark. “It will enable us to fully engage our students and faculty, as well as wider audiences, in the study and appreciation of the lessons and legacies of business history, which has been an important part of our curriculum since 1927.”

In making their gift, the de Gaspé Beaubien family said, “We are proud to be associated with Harvard Business School in its continuing pursuit of excellence in the teaching and dissemination of the important lessons learned from the study of business history. We hope that our gift will increase the knowledge and awareness of this important collection for a wide audience and help reaffirm the fact that it is impossible to look to the future without learning from the past.”

When the Baker Library, now undergoing a major, state-of-the-art renovation and rebuilding, reopens in 2005, the Historical Collections Reading Room will be named in honor of the de Gaspé Beaubien family.