Late University of New Hampshire librarian and alumnus Robert Morin spent nearly 50 years of his life cataloging books, writing short descriptions of DVDs, and entering ISBN numbers of CDs at the Durham campus’s Dimond Library.
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While Robert Morin was known to live simply, he quietly amassed the fortune that was left to UNH following his death a little over a year ago.
The only dedicated gift in Morin’s bequest was $100,000 for Dimond Library.
The cataloguer at the university’s Dimond Library spent most of his working hours keeping track of the sheet music bound in books, punching in ISBN numbers for CDs and writing descriptions of the DVDs in the Durham, N.H. library’s collection, according to his obituary.
“He never went out”, Morin’s financial adviser Edward Mullen said in an interview with Union Leader.
His retirement account alone had almost $1 million in it.
According to the same interview with Mullen, Morin did not have any relatives he wanted to leave his estate to and chose to give the money to the university because he trusted it to spend the $4 million wisely for students. Morin trusted the university would spend the money wisely for its students. Another million will fund a video scoreboard at the school’s new football stadium because Morin developed a keen interest in football during his last months at an assisted living center.
UNH President Mark Huddleston says he’s inspired by Morin’s commitment to the school through his philanthropy. “His generous gift allows us to address a number of university priorities”. “We are committed to providing the resources needed to ensure every student achieves professional success and Bob’s gift will play a major role in that effort”.
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Huddleston said that from 1979 to 1997, Morin watched more than 22,000 videos. After he satisfied his passion for movies, he turned his attention to books, deciding to read – in chronological order – every book published in the United States from 1930 to 1940 except for children’s books, textbooks and books about cooking and technology. He mastered the rules and names of the players and teams.
