The donor for IU’s Sample Gates, Edson Sample, died last month. He worked for the university in the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid for nearly 30 years, retiring in 1990.
IU Foundation President Emeritus Curt Simic said that Sample wanted to help make the university a welcoming place and was focused on equality in education.
“He was engaged with students," Simic said. "He was interested in their welfare. He was interested in them finding a home here at Indiana University that would be that would be exciting to them and hospitable to them, and special to them."
Plans to build campus gates had been discussed and came close to getting built in the 1970s. But the funder withdrew after protests that building the gates at that time was a bad use of alumni resources.
Sample reinvigorated talk of the project in the 1980s, offering to fund them. They were finished in 1987 and dedicated to his parents.
Read: Sample Gates: Honoring The History, Looking To The Future
“He had seen the controversies over the years. That didn't deter him," Simic said. "So he said, 'Yeah, there'll be an up, there'll be a down and this will come and that will go. But what we're talking about as long term.'”
Today, the gates are one of the university’s most recognizable landmarks and a favorite spot to take pictures.
Sample also contributed to academic scholarships and fellowships for the IU School of education and facilities for IU athletics.
