Duke Endowment keeps on investing to enhance quality of life

Dr. Robert F. Durden was born the same year that James Buchanan Duke died – 1925. Separately, they spent a lot of time loving the same place – Duke University in Durham, N.C.

James Duke

Dr. Durden

James Duke’s money, channeled through The Duke Endowment beginning in 1924, built the university.

Dr. Durden, a native of Graymont, Ga., received his Ph.D. from Princeton (N.J.) University in 1952, got married and drove to Durham on his honeymoon to take a job as a Duke history professor. He never left the faculty. His academic career spanned 49 years in the classroom. 

Before his death in 2016, Dr. Durden “wrote the definitive study of the Duke family and the founding of Duke University.” 

He noted that James Duke once said: “I hated to close my desk at night and was eager to get back to it early next morning. I needed no vacation or time off. There ain’t a thrill in the world to compare with building a business and watching it grow before your eyes.” 

Judge William Robertson Perkins became James Duke’s personal legal counselor in 1913. He also observed: “Mr. Duke was a builder. He loved to create and establish.” 

“He felt it met the test of real assistance,” Judge Perkins noted. “Help others to help themselves. And he illustrated that by saying it was easy enough to give a fellow food or shelter or raiment or money, but the best of all gifts was a job.” 

Indeed, James Duke was a job creator as well as an opportunity provider. Through The Duke Endowment, he invested in higher education, health care, orphan care and the religious pursuits offered by the Methodist Church. 

When Judge Perkins asked James Duke to identify his greatest accomplishment, he replied without hesitation, “The Endowment, because through it, I make men (and women).” 

Judge Perkins would later comment in 1929 that in death, James Duke “rests from his labors, but his deeds abide to bless.” 

“And among them shines The Endowment, an enduring lighthouse of humanity which will forever send forth its beams of living helpfulness across life’s storm-tossed sea.” 

“That passage has keen imagery within our coastal communities,” said the Rev. Karl Zorowski of St. Peter’s United Methodist Church in Morehead City, N.C. “I am proud to say that The Duke Endowment is working for us at the local level.” 

Rev. Zorowski

The foundation is currently underwriting a project offered through the North Carolina Rural Center to support outreach endeavors of local churches. 

“At St. Peter’s, we’re honored to be among only a handful of churches across the state to be selected in 2023 to participate in an initiative titled “Faith in Rural Communities,” Rev. Zorowski said. “It’s quite exciting, as church members are now in the process of determining how to best address existing needs within our community.” 

“Essentially, we want to leverage our assets as a congregation and direct our efforts and energies toward an achievable goal. How can we do the most good…where it’s needed most?” 

Bill Douglass, who is heading up the “Connect Church” undertaking at St. Peter’s said: “We’re looking to involve the general public. There’s a short questionnaire that can be accessed through the church website at www.stpetersumc.com. We invite local citizens to share their thoughts about community strengths and needs. We welcome all comments.” 

“Nearly a century has passed since James Duke died,” Douglass said. “His legacy is the strong belief that churches are key institutions to ensure the vitality of rural communities. We want to build on that concept in the Morehead City area.”