CASTINE – Dr. William J. Brennan, president of Maine Maritime Academy, said May 13 that the Bowdoin Centennial Campaign, a $1.6 million fundraising campaign launched by the Academy in November 2014, received a lead gift of $500,000 to help repair the schooner Bowdoin.

The gift comes from the Herman D. Pollock Family Foundation and was initiated by Jeffrey Pollock of Houston, Texas, who received a master's degree candidate in the global logistics and maritime management program.

"A gift of this magnitude from a student is a first for Maine Maritime Academy, and we're immensely grateful, and proud," said President Brennan in a news release.

The Herman D. Pollock Family Foundation, of which Jeffrey Pollock, his brother Russell Pollock, and their mother Lois Geyer are trustees, was established to fulfill Herman's wish to gift some of his wealth to a charity of the family's choosing.

Herman was Jeff and Russell's great uncle, and he died when the brothers were young, but they remember going with their father, Gary, to bring a check from Herman's estate to the Salvation Army around Christmas time.

"It was fun to give money away,"  Pollock said in a news release. The brothers and their mother inherited the responsibility of gifting final assets from Herman's estate when Gary died. The family set up the foundation to fund maritime initiatives, and the gift to MMA will be the final gift to be disbursed from the foundation, which will be closed later this year.

"We've all been sailors our whole lives," said Pollock. "Given Bowdoin's legacy, I wanted to help, and to see this classic wooden sailing ship keep making history."

The schooner Bowdoin was launched in 1921 as a specially designed Arctic exploration vessel for Donald B. MacMillan. Bowdoin was acquired by Maine Maritime Academy in the late 1980s and soon after was designated a National Historic Landmark and the Official Vessel of the State of Maine.

The ship has made 28 trips above the Arctic Circle; 25 under the command of MacMillan and three captained by Academy faculty and staff. Students in MMA's Vessel Operations and Technology (VOT), Small Vessel Operations (SVO), and other programs navigate and maintain the 88-foot tall ship as part of their at-sea training.

Maine Maritime Academy is the only college in the United States with a dedicated sail training program that leads to a U.S. Coast Guard license as mate on an auxiliary sail vessel.

"The purpose of the Bowdoin Centennial Campaign is to celebrate the Bowdoin in excellent condition on her 100th birthday in 2021, and to keep her exploring, sailing and training for another 100 years," said Campaign Director, Kay Hightower in a news release.

"To get there, we will fund the replacement of the ship's deck (along with other repairs that will become evident once the old deck is removed), which will cost approximately $600,000; and we will strengthen the ship's endowment by $1 million in order to protect and preserve her in perpetuity. We are well underway, and we have an outstanding group of people helping with the campaign."

The Bowdoin Centennial Campaign Cabinet includes: Co-Chairman Capt. G. Andy Chase, Co-Chairman Alexander Watson, Fred Atkins, Capt. Bill Cowan, Capt. Cate Cronin, Capt. Dave Fenderson, Lawrence Kaplan, Matthew P. Murphy, Capt. Alec Schoettle, Capt. John Worth, and Capt. Heather Stone. Honorary Cabinet Members include (to date): former Maine Governor Kenneth Curtis, Dr. Pete Rand, Phineas Sprague Jr., Dr. Ed Morse, and Gordon Bok.

For more information about the Bowdoin Centennial Campaign, contact Kay Hightower at 326-8932 or kay.hightower@mma.edu.

Maine Maritime Academy is a co-educational, public college on the coast of Maine offering 18 degree programs in engineering, management, science, and transportation. The college serves approximately 950 undergraduate and graduate students in career-oriented programs of study.