ALAMOSA, Colo.-
E-Trade Financial Corp. founder William Porter and his wife have donated $5.8 million worth of stock to Adams State College for math and science scholarships.
Porter earned his mathematics degree from Adams State in 1951, and the school’s mathematics and science building was named after him.
Porter and his wife recently donated 250,000 E-Trade shares to the Adams State College Foundation, whose endowment is now valued at $14.3 million, school officials said Thursday.
“Mr. Porter succeeded more than he could have imagined,” Adams State President David Svaldi said. “By sharing his rewards, he assures future Adams State students will have the same opportunity.”
Porter, now chairman emeritus of the online brokerage firm E-Trade, finished college in three years while working nights as a dispatcher for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. After graduating from Adams State, Porter earned master’s degrees from Kansas State University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In 1997, Porter donated stock worth about $4 million to Adams State, which used most of it to install Ethernet wiring in residence halls.
