Frederick B. Whittemore D'53, T'54
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"One of the best American traditions is for those who have received something to give something back."
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Learning, Earning, and Returning
"People are more important than capital," says Fred Whittemore, a man who has spent his life deeply involved with both.
A popular student and two-term president of his Dartmouth alumni class, Whittemore graduated from Tuck in 1954. After serving in the navy, he took a job with Morgan Stanley on Wall Street, first working in corporate finance, then shifting into marketing and syndication. As a colleague remarked, "Fred Whittemore knew where Morgan Stanley fit in the universe—and he could syndicate anything." He was made partner in 1967.
In 40 years at Morgan Stanley—he retired in 2000 as advisory director- Whittemore saw the firm grow from 140 to 60,000 employees. "I got to know everybody on Wall Street," he says. "The wonderful thing about the Street then was that we knew each other as competitors better than we knew our clients. Firms had the personalities of their employees.
"The single most important policy for Morgan Stanley has been spending time and effort in selecting people," Whittemore says. "Out in the business world, you're not working by yourself. You're always trying to get other people to work with you. Success isn't just a matter of competitive pricing. It's the ability to win trust, getting people to want to do business with you and helping them get their business done."
But getting business done is not Whittemore's only concern. Not by a long shot. "The world is filled with three opportunities: learning, earning, and returning," he says, noting that he is now well into the returning phase. He has served in more than a dozen volunteer positions for Dartmouth and Tuck, including Tuck overseer since 1984 and chair of the board from 1987 to 1991. As a philanthropist, Whittemore has been called unfailingly thoughtful and extraordinarily generous. Typical of this was his generous seven-figure gift in 1998 that made possible the building of Tuck's Whittemore Hall. The residence for 60 students was designed in clusters of private and common rooms to imitate small houses. At its dedication in December 2000, Tuck Dean Paul Danos noted that "Whittemore Hall will define how our students interact from now on" and that "the way we interact is the cornerstone of our character." Of Whittemore, the dean says that "he has done more to shape Tuck than any other living person."
Support of education is a Whittemore family tradition. The Whittemore School of Business and Economics at the University of New Hampshire is named for Fred's father, industrialist Laurence Whittemore; and the late David McLaughlin D'54, T'55, the 14th president of Dartmouth, attended Tuck with the help of a scholarship funded by the elder Whittemore. (See David McLaughlin's obituary on page 22.) Both Whittemore father and son have been heralded as "good New Englanders"—people whose accomplishments in private life are balanced by a commitment to the public good.
But that's a way of life that Whittemore would argue is not restricted to New England. As he said at the dedication of Whittemore Hall, "One of the best American traditions is for those who have received something to give something back. The Tuck School has meant a lot to my career. I'm happy to be a part of this tradition and to be giving back to Tuck." Elsewhere Whittemore has written, "Philanthropy is part of our American culture and part of our law. Often people grow up here and don't realize how different we are from the rest of the world. By giving back, we have an opportunity to improve things."
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