Newcastle University receives £5 million legacy donation
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the late Dr Oliver Ord for his generous legacy donation to Newcastle University.
8 February 2023
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the late Dr Oliver Ord for his generous legacy donation to Newcastle University.
Dr Ord, a retired scientist who studied a PhD in Chemistry at Newcastle University in 1960, pledged to leave a sum of money to the University following a visit to campus to reunite him with his thesis.
About Dr Ord
During his time at university, Dr Ord was a keen badminton player and joined the University’s badminton team. Below Dr Ord is pictured centre front in the men's team and centre back in the mixed team (if you feature in one of these photographs alongside Dr Ord, we'd love to hear from you!) Following his studies, he joined Unilever in London as a research scientist and travelled the world for the company. He moved back to the North East in 1976 and became Chief Science Officer at Northumbrian Water where he worked until his retirement.
.jpg)
.jpg)
Reuniting Dr Ord with his thesis
Dr Ord reconnected with the university when his thesis became lost during his move to a care home. As part of their ‘make a wish come true’ initiative, Dr Ord’s care home co-ordinators reached out to Dr David Fulton a Senior Lecturer in Organic Chemistry at Newcastle University to explore the feasibility of locating the University’s copy of Dr Ord’s thesis.
In a touching afternoon at the Philip Robinson Library in 2019, Dr Ord was presented with a replacement of his thesis. It was bound with a leather cover and featured gold lettering, much as it had looked in 1960 when Oliver submitted the original.
In the months following the visit, Dr Ord pledged to leave a sum of his money to the University in his will.
A lasting legacy
Dr Ord sadly passed away in 2021.
Following a valuation of his estate it became apparent that the legacy donation totalled a sum of £5 million. The generous legacy from Dr Ord will be distributed to both the Faculty of Medical Sciences and the Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering.
In our world-leading Faculty of Medical Sciences, the funding will enable a number of new areas of research. Two new professorial positions have already been established. One is researching the use of data science to improve health care; the other is researching population-based approaches to better understand ageing and health.
Dr Ord’s desire to leave funds to medical research was part-fuelled by his experience with his own family.
Professor David Burn, Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Faculty of Medical Sciences commented:
"Dr Ord’s legacy donation is truly life-changing. A donation of this quantity can excel our ability to transform innovative research into novel treatments that improve health for all.
"Both appointments for the new professorial positions have come from outside the region, representing a real import of talent to Newcastle."
Within the Faculty of Science, Agriculture and Engineering, the funds will benefit PhD students in Polymer Chemistry, a subject which remained of deep academic interest to Dr Ord throughout his life.
Dr David Fulton commented:
“It was a real privilege to be able to meet Dr Ord and reunite him with his thesis. It was clear to me that he was a strong believer in the power of education and being able to support students to pursue further research-based study in Chemistry, just like Dr Ord did, is a fitting tribute to his legacy.
"I have already recruited the first PhD student who will benefit from Dr Ord’s bequest and look forward to enabling more students to continue to study and thrive in a subject they are passionate about.”
How to prepare a Will webinar
As part of our Newcastle Discover Series, we recently held a webinar with Newcastle-based law firm Mincoffs Solicitors. In this webinar Lydia McCaslin, Head of Wills, Trust and Probate discussed how to prepare a Will, the different types of Power Attorney and how to leave a legacy donation to a charity. If you're thinking about arranging a Will this year, you can catch up on this webinar on our YouTube channel.