History of the Abbot Academy Fund

In June 1973, as plans for the merger between Abbot Academy and Phillips Academy were underway, Board Chair Philip Allen ’29 and three Abbot trustees—Mary (Myndie) Howard Nutting ’40, Beverly Brooks Floe ’41, and Melville Chapin ’36, P’59, GP’90, ’94, ’10—discussed ideas for ways to preserve Abbot’s legacy and values.

They hatched a plan: Using $1 million from Abbot Academy’s endowment, they established a charitable corporation to fund new educational ventures at the combined school. They pitched their idea to Head of School Ted Sizer, and the Abbot Academy Association was established, as part of the merger agreement.

The AAF was set up as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation whose endowment is now managed with the Andover Fund. Its goal is to preserve the history, standards, tradition, and name of Abbot Academy. In May 2017, the AAF board of directors voted to recognize the organization by a new name—Abbot Academy Fund—in order to better reflect its mission.

Many of Andover's fine programs—both large and small—were seeded with Abbot Academy Fund monies. For more information about the projects that the AAF has supported, watch the 50th-anniversary documentary or see the 2023 Impact Report.

The AAF’s original Articles of Incorporation include this mission statement:

“To preserve the spirit, dignity, and high standard of the Abbot Academy tradition and to provide an additional means of carrying on the educational aims of Abbot Academy at Phillips Academy through support of students, faculty, staff, and properties at Phillips Academy.”

ABBOT ACADEMY FUND PRESIDENTS

1973 – 1976 Mary (Myndie) Howard Nutting ’40

1976 – 1979 Anne Oliver Jackson ’53, P’93

1980 – 1984 Sybil P. Smith ’61, P’89

1984 – 1990 Sandra A. Urie ’70

1990 – 1993 Cornelia Weldon LeMaitre ’53  P’80, ’82, ’86, ’86, ’87, GP’13, ’16

1993 – 1996 Martha C. Lyman ’62

1996 – 1998 Tamara Elliott Rogers ’70

1998 – 2000 Susan Urie Donahue ’73, P’05, ’06

2001 – 2002 Constance Hall DeNault ’51

2003 – 2006 Elizabeth A. DeLucia ’85

2006 – 2009 Amy C. Zimmerman ’90, P’19

2009 – 2010 Melanie Fales Davis ’65

2010 - 2011 Mindy Diane Feldman ’73

2010 – 2012 David A. Othmer ’59

2012 – 2014 Mimi Won Techentin ’79, P’27

2014 – 2016 Susan Goodwillie Stedman ’59

2016 – 2018 Gregory W. Kimball ’01

2018 – 2019 Aisha Jorge Messengill ’88

2020 – present Beth Humstone ’66