Torchbearer: Spring 1998

Start of Something Big

by John Clark

The voice on the phone had a "down East," New England accent to Charlie Brakebill's East Tennessee ear.

"The late Fred Roddy has left $500,000 to his alma mater for scholarships. Could his accountant and attorney come to Knoxville to discuss the transfer of the money to the university?'' the caller asked.

Of course, said Brakebill, a UT assistant vice president in 1970 when he took that call. It's not every day a half-million dollar gift comes by phone call. Who is this Fred Roddy? Brakebill mused.

More than a quarter century later, Brakebill, emeritus vice president of development, nearly 2,000 UT Knoxville students, and many others know Fred Roddy.

Since the original $500,000 bequest, gifts to the endowment and for annual Roddy scholarships total $3.3 million.

Fred Mason Roddy was a private man, and much of his life remains a mystery. But his bequest to his alma mater and what it is accomplishing are well known. In the 25 years since the first Roddy Scholarship recipients were chosen, the fund started with that half-million dollars has helped more students than any other at UT.

Last October at the annual luncheon for Roddy scholarship recipients, faithfully attended by directors of the Fred Roddy Foundation, headquartered in Attleboro, Mass., a special tribute was paid to the Blount County, Tenn., native who has helped so many students "of good character and need" attend the university.

"This is a story of a UT graduate who did well, who remembered his university, and who had a desire to help young people," said UT President Joe Johnson, who with Brakebill and former UT President Edward J. Boling, worked with Roddy directors in the early '70s to establish the scholarship program.

"It is the story, too, of a relationship this university has developed with a special group of New Englanders we probably would never have come to know were it not for Mr. Roddy. We all share the mutual desire of fulfilling the wishes of Fred Roddy."

Roddy was born in 1905 and graduated from UT in 1927 with a degree in mechanical engineering. After working for Tennessee Eastman in Kingsport, Tenn., for a dozen years, he left to found Cumberland Engineering Co. and develop equipment for handling and processing plastic. To be nearer the center of the plastics industry, he moved his company from Kingsport to Providence, R.I. Later, Cumberland would move across the river to Attleboro.

John McIntyre, president of the Roddy Foundation, says Roddy's life was his company.

"He was never married and had little family. He was married to his company, and his employees were his family. He was not a strong man; he was ill with a lung disease most of his life, but worked hard and knew everybody in the plant. He was always concerned about their welfare."

That concern was revealed in his will. In addition to his bequest to UT, Roddy set up a scholarship endowment for the children of Cumberland Engineering employees.
Soon after his death, a memorial plaque was placed on the wall of Cumberland Engineering by his "family"–the company's 450 employees. It extolls his "brilliant mind . . . massive integrity . . . sparkling wit and brilliant smile." The final line on the plaque reads, "I think he knew we loved him."

Roddy was an humble man who lived simply, spending most of his life inside his plant, McIntyre says. A 1967 visit to his twin brother, Frank, in Maryville, Tenn., apparently prompted Roddy to remember UT in his estate. The late Earl Holden, Roddy's long-time accountant, who worked closely with UT officials in establishing the scholarship program, told Brakebill that Fred used his brother's tickets to attend the pair's 40th UT class reunion in 1967.

"Shortly after returning to Massachusetts, he asked Earl to revise his will to include the bequest to UT," Brakebill says.

As directed by Roddy's will, the original scholarships go to students who need assistance. In 1983 the foundation directors voted to establish a fund for academic achievement.

UTK Chancellor Bill Snyder says the Roddy program became a cornerstone of the campus' merit scholarship efforts.

"For the last few years, we have placed a high priority on creating more academic scholarships that will attract the state's top students to UT Knoxville. The Roddy scholarships were the foundation on which we built," Snyder says. "Many of our most outstanding graduates over the last 25 years were Roddy Scholars."

A survey this year by UT's Development Office confirms Snyder's statement.

A third of the Scholars who responded continued their educations and earned advanced degrees, and 27 percent own businesses or are employed in businesses or corporations. Eleven percent are in the medical, dental, or pharmacy fields, and another 17 percent are engineers, scientists, or are working in the computer field.

Eight percent are teachers or involved in education. Five percent are in the legal profession.

"What a remarkable legacy–in less than 25 years," Snyder says. "Since these scholarships are endowed, there will be Roddy Scholars as long as there is a University of Tennessee. Fred Roddy has set a wonderful example of what one individual can do for young people."

Return to Spring 1998 table of contents.





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