It was 1961, a time of remarkable University growth under an ambitious administration led by J.E. Wallace Sterling. Yet the news still came as a shock: Stanford would embark upon a $114 million fund-raising campaign -- the largest in the history of American higher education -- under the leadership of Kenneth Cuthbertson, vice president for development. "It was surprising they went for such a high goal, but that campaign really put Stanford on the map," says former University president Donald Kennedy. Within three years, the fund-raisers met their target. "It couldn't have been done without Kenny's absolute devotion," Kennedy says.
Cuthbertson, who boosted Stanford to second place nationally in total gift support during his 17 years as vice president, died April 30 in Portola Valley of Parkinson's disease. He was 81.
Born and raised in San Francisco, Cuthbertson studied economics as an undergraduate and was elected student body president in 1940. A year later, he married his vice president, Coline Upshaw, '40. After five years in the Navy, during which polio partially paralyzed his right leg, Cuthbertson returned to Stanford to earn his MBA. He worked as a management consultant and insurance broker before being named assistant to Sterling, PhD '38, in 1954. In 1960, Sterling selected him as one of the University's first three vice presidents.
Cuthbertson thrived in the university environment. "In his next life, I think he'll come back as a Stanford professor," his wife once told the Stanford Daily. He pushed to modernize university fund raising and align its goals with academic priorities. He helped Sterling and Provost Fred Terman develop and fund programs to attract top faculty and conducted the first national survey of long-term financial planning for higher education. From 1972 to 1977, he directed the $300 million Campaign for Stanford, which set another national benchmark.
Cuthbertson led by example, contributing as much as one-third of his salary each year of the campaigns. "But he didn't do it out of duty," Kennedy says, "he did it out of genuine belief in the campaigns."
In 1977, Cuthbertson left Stanford to head the James Irvine Foundation, a California grant-making organization. Three years later, Kennedy established the Kenneth M. Cuthbertson award, given annually for exceptional service to the Stanford community.
Cuthbertson is survived by Coline; two daughters, Janet Whitchurch, '65, MA '67, and Nancy; two sons, Tom, '67, and Jim, MD '74; 11 grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
