The memory of Sidney Frank '42 will be visible on campus for decades to come in both the scholarship program and academic building that bear his name. For now, though, he is perhaps most widely remembered by the liquors he made famous.
On Sept. 15, 2004, when Frank's donation of $100 million to eliminate loans for the University's neediest students was made public, students taped a bottle of Jägermeister to the paw of the Brown Bear statue on the Main Green to show their appreciation. Ronald Vanden Dorpel GS '71, senior vice president for university advancement, displays large bottles of Jägermeister and Grey Goose Vodka in his office. President Ruth Simmons keeps a Jägermeister tap machine - a device invented by Frank that chills the liquor to 5 degrees Fahrenheit before serving - in her office in University Hall, a gift from Frank when he visited campus last May.
"He actually used it for himself and his guests while he was in my office," Simmons said. Though she removed it after last year's Commencement exercises, this month she moved it back into her office in his memory - just for a few weeks, she said.
"Whenever I visited him after he left campus, he'd ask about the Jägermeister tap machine in my office. I think he actually thought it was in constant use," she said, laughing.
"Sidney had a great sense of humor," she added.
Frank, who passed away on Jan. 10, dropped out of Brown after a year because he ran out of money. He later made billions from imported liquors such as Jägermeister and his own creation: the super premium Grey Goose Vodka. He was a determined businessman and a somewhat eccentric philanthropist whose largess benefited traditional outlets such as his high school and local police department as well as more eclectic projects.
"He was an enormous admirer of Winston Churchill, and his admiration for Churchill and Churchill's role in the Second World War got him interested in the Battle of Britain," Vanden Dorpel said. He became particularly fascinated with the hero of that battle: the Spitfire fighter plane, designed by R.J. Mitchell.
So in 2004, when Frank heard about a small museum opening in Britain to remember Mitchell and the Spitfire, he decided to bankroll the project and commissioned a large statue of Mitchell for the museum. He also unsuccessfully lobbied Queen Elizabeth II to grant Mitchell a posthumous knighthood.
"The way Sidney read history, if it had not been for R.J. Mitchell and the Spitfire, Britain and Churchill would have lost," said Vanden Dorpel, who also noted that he and Frank watched the film "The Gathering Storm," starring Albert Finney as Churchill, "at least twice."
"You could say there's some eccentricity to his philanthropy," said Vanden Dorpel.
Iconic for his liquors and his large cigars, Frank was a memorable figure for those he met.
"He was one of the most unforgettable men I ever met," Vanden Dorpel said.
"He was a person who was completely without guile," said Simmons. "He was straightforward, open-minded, unembarrassed to confess to his shortcomings and just so wonderfully honest and open that you just had to like him."
Simmons, the first black president of Brown, recalled that Frank once told her, "You know, Ruth, I used to be biased, but I'm not anymore."
"I think that's the only time in my entire life that anyone has ever told me they were biased. He could reveal things like that," she said.
But, Simmons said, it is Frank's compassion that she will most remember.
"The thing I will always remember and appreciate about him is his kindness and compassion for other people, that he wanted to do something for Brown," she said. "One of the first things he thought of when he sold Grey Goose was how to benefit students."
After Frank gave the University $5 million to help aid the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Brown pledged to rebuild New Orleans' Dillard University in a partnership with Princeton University. At Dillard, the new semester opened with a memorial minute for Frank, "a man they never met, who had no connection to the university, but nonetheless knew of the disaster and wanted to help," Simmons said.
"That's the kind of person he was," she added.
At Commencement exercises last May, Frank received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters. When he stood to receive the degree, the graduating students gave him a standing ovation.
"It was in appreciation not only for the dollar amount, but also for the spirit of his gifts," said Dean of the College Paul Armstrong, who was on stage with Frank.
Frank spoke to the crowd, his voice breaking with emotion.
"I envy you," he said. "I wanted to come up and see how you're doing. And this is the greatest day of my life," he said.
Frank was honored at a funeral service at Riverside Memorial Chapel in Manhattan on Jan. 13, where his coffin was covered with the Brown flag.
"That was so moving for me," said Simmons, who spoke at the service. "It demonstrated the recognition from his family that this would have pleased Sidney immensely, to have the Brown flag draped on his coffin."
Frank was buried with his first wife, Louise, in Cincinnati. But administrators believe he will have a strong presence on campus for many years.
"He'll go down in Brown's history," Vanden Dorpel said.
Armstrong said Frank's gift could begin a "redoubled effort to achieve economic diversity" and make Brown affordable for students of all backgrounds.
"This financial aid gift is a powerful legacy, both for the opportunities it creates for students and for the signals it sends to us and to other donors about the importance of financial aid," he said.
Simmons believes that Frank - "a person who had lived an exceptional life and enjoyed himself, who loved life large," as she described him -- will continue to change lives at Brown.
"I think it's not over. Sidney wanted to be a part of Brown forever ... I suspect, as he mentioned in his remarks at Commencement, there will be more things Sidney will do for Brown after his death," she said.
"We'll turn the corner and there will be another thing that Sidney did for Brown, one more indication of his devotion to Brown," Simmons added.
