ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, November 22, 1996 TAG: 9611220039
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LEXINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
James Dye left Washington and Lee University in 1932 after being told he was no scholar and no gentleman.
Sixty-four years later, he showed he didn't carry a grudge by leaving the college an $11 million bequest.
Dye - heir to an oil fortune, roustabout, investor, World War II flying ace and curmudgeon who chain-smoked through an oxygen mask on his death bed - never forgot his failure at the exclusive private school.
After no contact in 47 years, and no information about him in their files, fund-raising officers were shocked when Dye phoned them in 1991. David Long, W&L's director of planned giving, flew to Dye's modest home in San Antonio, Texas, to chat.
``I sat on a little three-legged stool in high-90s weather, no air conditioning in the house, while he smoked Camel cigarettes - the ones with no filters - with no ashtray,'' Long told the Richmond Times-Dispatch for a story published Thursday.
``He would just drop the ashes on the [carpeted] floor. A maid would walk in and out of that place and throw water on the little fires.''
The interview lasted seven hours. It included a 100-mph ride in Dye's Cadillac after dinner. Dye refused to talk about his potential role as benefactor until late that night.
He died four years later, at age 83, childless and divorced. Only 12 people attended his funeral.
Dye arrived by train in Lexington in 1930, his valet in tow. He joined the swimming and wrestling teams, but he enjoyed his fraternity brothers at Sigma Chi more. Two years later, he had partied his way out of the school.
Long gives credit for obtaining Dye's donation to former W&L chemistry professor Lucius Junius Desha. Long said Dye told him Desha summoned the student in 1932 to tell him he was obviously not a scholar and, therefore, would not be at Washington and Lee any longer. Secondly, Desha told him his behavior in and out of the classroom showed he was not a gentleman.
``I think the impact of that statement haunted him his entire life,'' Long said. ``Consequently, his generosity here, and the way it will affect students, faculty, everything we do really was a way to show that he cared, and that gentlemanly conduct can be viewed in many different ways.''
According to the college, Dye was born in Tulsa, Okla. His parents had become rich in the oil and gas industry.
After a failed bid to earn a degree from the University of Texas, Dye bounced around the oil fields, adding to his already substantial wealth with his many investments.
He tried to fly for the Army in World War II, but was told he was too old. So he took his wings to the Royal Canadian Air Force, flying a Thunderbolt fighter on more than 80 missions over Europe.
The university plans to use $6 million of the bequest for financial aid. The rest of the money - $5 million is an estimate, because it will come from future sales of oil and other properties - will pad the school's general endowment. It is the second largest gift in the school's history.
Other beneficiaries of Dye's $22.7 million estate included the National Rifle Association, the Royal Canadian Air Force benevolence fund, the Oblate Fathers of Texas Pension Fund and the Salvation Army.
Long said Dye told him that of all American leaders, he admired Teddy Roosevelt because he lived life on his own terms and pushed it to the limits.
``He said there was nothing like buying a new Cadillac and taking it out on the flatlands of Texas and blowing it up, taking it as fast as it would go,'' Long said. ``He loved taking it to the limit.''
LENGTH: Medium: 70 linesby CNB