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Gift also funds student sabbatical program, because Eugene Eaton believed ‘studying economics in an international setting would add a lot to the student’s appreciation for the discipline’

A physically imposing man with a brilliant mind and self-deprecating wit, University of Colorado Boulder economics alumnus Eugene D. Eaton Jr. (’65, ’67, ’71) was larger than life. He served as a navigator in the 9th Aerospace Defense Division of the U.S. Air Force. He was awarded a Fulbright professorship. He was a faculty member of the University of Alaska and, in his later years, worked as an economic consultant for organizations associated with the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System.

Eaton, who died in 2013, continues to leave an impact through estate gifts that establish endowments to benefit the Department of Economics and the College of Music at CU-Boulder. Combined, the commitments of more than $6 million constitute the largest gift the campus has received since 2007.

“This cross-disciplinary gift from an alumnus who remembered us in his will is leaving a legacy for generations of students,” said Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano. “Bequests like this shape the future of CU-Boulder and we are grateful.”

Eaton described his time as a CU-Boulder student as “that wonderfully dissipating life” and lamented in his self-authored obituary that “too soon I had a respectable doctorate … [I] had to face the prospect that I might actually have to become employed, a first for me.”

While the social sciences engaged his mind and led to his successful career, it was music that riveted the economist outside of the classroom. Eaton attended many concerts at the College of Music and relished debates with the economics faculty, said Integrative Physiology Professor Todd Gleeson, who served as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from 2002 through 2012.

“It was clear he embraced the academic community at CU-Boulder,” said Gleeson, who knew Eaton well. “Economics and music were clearly two different areas of interest for him, and he pursued both of them carefully. This gift was his attempt to address his two passions: one professional and one cultural.”

The economics portion of the gift, which totals more than $3.7 million, will be split two ways:

• A $1.36 million endowment will fund a new travel sabbatical program for undergraduates, which will enable students in economics to broaden their knowledge of the marketplace in a culture other than their own. The program aims to provide a different kind of international experience for students who will design a creative and unconventional study plan abroad, with preference given to those interested in regions of the southern or eastern hemispheres.

“Gene thought studying economics in an international setting would add a lot to the student’s appreciation for the discipline and for how other systems work,” Gleeson said.

• A $2.36 million endowment will fund a new chair in economics, substantially enhancing the department’s ability to attract the most distinguished scholars and practitioners, said Professor Nicholas E. Flores, chair of the Department of Economics.

“On all levels, this gift is huge for us,” Flores said. “You get expertise and a record of scholarship immediately from a senior scholar.”

In addition, $2.36 million from the gift will fund an endowed chair of Baroque music in the College of Music. .

Melanie Sidwell is communications manager at the .