Profiles in Giving
Mort Fine '37
“First, I wanted to honor my parents, and my dear wife, who would have blessed this gift indeed. I also wanted to honor the school that gave me the scholarships I needed to get by. The education I received at WPI has made all the difference in my life.”
Making the Best Investment
"I'm a saver," declares Morton S. Fine '37. "I think it's important to hold on to certain things in your life." A distinguished engineer for nearly seven decades, past president and executive director of the National Council of Engineering Examiners, and former national chairman of the National Society of Professional Engineers–Professional Engineers in Private Practice, Fine keeps many of his treasured keepsakes in his Bloomfield, CT office, where he still goes to work everyday. His personal archive ranges from publications documenting his most prominent projects, such as original study of Connecticut's famed Dinosaur Park, to every report card from grammar school through WPI—the last of which records his achievement of graduating with High Distinction.
While he may indeed be a saver, Fine is also a most generous giver, volunteering his time and talents with several nonprofit organizations. He has been especially generous to WPI, making a charitable gift annuity to endow the Morton S. Fine '37 and Frances Kaufman Fine Scholarship Fund. "I decided to make this gift for several reasons," says Fine, who was elected an "eminent engineer" to Tau Beta Pi, the national Engineering Honor Society. "First, I wanted to honor my parents, and my dear wife, who would have blessed this gift indeed. I also wanted to honor the school that gave me the scholarships I needed to get by. The education I received at WPI has made all the difference in my life."
Fine hopes that the scholarship can assist students from Worcester, who participate in music at WPI. "I'm a musician from the word go," he explains, "and music was so important to me at WPI. I played clarinet and sax in the marching band and with the Boyntonians." A former chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Hartford Conservatory of Music, Fine continues to play with the Simsbury Community Band, where he is second chair clarinet.
When the time was right for creating his scholarship fund, Fine says he considered several options but deemed a charitable gift annuity the best way to go. "I discussed it with my son and daughter and we all agreed that this was the best kind of investment to make. I may be a saver, but I know there are some things you can't take with you!"
Maintained by webmaster@wpi.edu