Robertson Family Philanthropy

 

The foundation Charles and Marie Robertson established in 1961 to prepare gifted graduate students for federal government diplomatic and foreign-policy careers is just one of many charitable initiatives by the Robertson family. The family also supports programs in the area of medical research, ecology and the environment, and education and youth services, among others.

For instance, in 1973, the Robertson family donated $8 million to endow the research program at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL), a leading medical research and education institute on Long Island.  Nobel Laureate James Watson, the director of the Laboratory, called the gift “one of the most important events in the Lab’s history,” and it continues to be the most important endowment for the laboratory. The endowment is now valued at more than $111 million.  Support for CSHL didn’t stop there.  In 1975, Charles also established the Marie H. Robertson Memorial Fund for Neuroscience and, in 1976, donated the nearby Robertson family estate to the laboratory for use as a conference center and established an endowment for its maintenance and upkeep.

The children of Charles and Marie Robertson – Katherine Ernst, Anne Meier, and William Robertson – have continued their parents’ legacy of service to their community and country through charitable giving.  In the area of medical research, they continue to provide significant support to CSHL, endowed the Charles S. Robertson Memorial Gift for Alzheimers Disease Research at Columbia University, and provide funding for cancer research for children at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City and for Dr. Boris Tabakoff’s research on alcoholism at the University of Colorado.

Mrs. Ernst, Mrs. Meier and Mr. Robertson also have provided significant support for a variety of other organizations, including the following, either personally or through their family foundation, The Banbury Fund:

Astronomical Society of the Pacific’s Project Astro 

Berkeley Community Media 

Cold Spring Harbor Fish Hatchery 

Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum

Conservancy of Southwest Florida 

Fiver Children’s Foundation 

Glacier Institute 

Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution  

Kinship Center 

Liberty Youth Ranch 

Low Country Institute 

Monterey Institute for Research in Astronomy  

Nature Conservancy 

Owl Research Institute 

Planned Parenthood

Student Council on U.S. Affairs 

United Negro College Fund