News
Minor Theater renamed for Morris ’76
By Kirsty Warren ’18
May 7, 2015
More than 50 students will move into Hamilton’s newest residence hall, Morris House, this fall. The newly converted Minor Theater was re-named in honor of alumnus and charter trustee Robert Morris ’76, P ’16, ’17 and his wife Mary Helen, who provided the leadership gift for the $6 million transformation.
“I am delighted we are able to renovate existing structures that help retain the character of the beautiful and eccentric campus we have instead of simply erecting new structures,” Morris said. “The new building seems splendid.” By renovating and expanding existing buildings instead of constructing new ones, Hamilton maintains the “historical flavor” of its campus.
“Minor Theater has had careers as a library, an infirmary and as a theater. I first entered Minor to see the play ‘Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead’ and it struck me as a charming haunted edifice that befits a place like Hamilton.” As many know, the building’s new incarnation will be a 10-suite, apartment-style residence hall. The final play staged in Minor Theater closed on April 26, 2014 and the renovations are scheduled to be completed in August.
Calling campus residential life an “integral” part of the Hamilton liberal arts experience, Morris commented on the importance of quality housing. “My freshman year I lived in a two room quad in South replete with a working fireplace which we kept running most of the year to supplement the meager heat in the building. The heating system was a boiler that turned on sporadically during the night causing a tremendous din we referred to as the “symphony of the pipes” as the heating pipes expanded. The original windows were still in place and as much ice formed on their inner surfaces as their outer. They rattled in high winds giving the entire place the feeling of Miss Havisham’s house, but it was great fun.”
Morris received the Volunteer of the Year award in 2003 and has served as a member of the Trustee Committee on Investments since 1989. He and his wife established endowed funds to support a professorship, the Irma M. and Robert D. Morris Professor of Economics, the Robert S. Morris Class of 1976 Visiting Fellowship and the Scott Steven Morris ’86 Internship Fund which supports students in summer employment. “I had the good fortune to get through Hamilton with loans and summer jobs,” Morris said. “I have done relatively well professionally, and Hamilton had a formative role in helping me in that process. It is important that I give back to the institution that has supported me in developing personally and professionally.”
Morris majored in economics at Hamilton and earned an M.B.A at Dartmouth. In 1988, he founded a private equity firm, Olympus Partners. “Hamilton provided me with an education that was perfect for me—it allowed me to become a Jack-of-all-trades who could later seek to be a master of what I chose to pursue. At Hamilton it’s not the subjects you study, but the manner in which you delve analytically into a topic, that is critical. That’s what served me well,” Morris said.
“Working with Rob Morris, one of Hamilton’s most dedicated and discerning alumni—and certainly one of our wittiest—is a joy. Dedicating Morris House will likewise be a joy,” said President Joan Hinde Stewart. “Our newest student residence will be beautiful, warm and welcoming, a superbly renovated building and a truly wonderful living space. My gratitude to Rob and Mary Helen Morris is immense.”