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Mass. school gets a $50 million bequest from former Pfizer president
The former student received a scholarship to attend the prep school and became the valedictorian of his class.
In the fall of 1951, a football game changed John Mitchell’s life forever.
Mitchell — a 13-year-old, 5-foot-three, 117-pound freshman — was the manager of the football team at Mount Hermon School for Boys in Northfield, Massachusetts.
As manager, Mitchell’s job was to make sure that all the equipment the team needed for its first away game of the season at Choate was loaded onto the team’s bus.
But upon arrival at the game, as Mitchell unpacked and set up the equipment, he realized that he forgot all of the footballs.
The coach, Axel B. Forsland — who students called “The Axe” due to his notoriously intimidating nature — demanded that Mitchell borrow some balls from the opposing team.
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Mitchell managed to transport seven balls in a single trip, giving them to his team’s players for warmups. Mount Hermon won the game against Choate that day.
Decades later, Mitchell became the President of Pfizer Global Manufacturing, where he oversaw operations for Pfizer’s healthcare products.
“I learned more from my mistakes, that day and after, than I ever learned in any classroom at Mount Hermon or Yale or NYU Business School,” Mitchell reportedly told his friend. “Plan thoroughly, review your plans before implementing them, refine them, consult with others and then stick to the plans, following up to assure that all is Right.”
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Mitchell, 83, died on Sept. 3, 2022.
Last Thursday, Mitchell’s former school, now called Northfield Mount Hermon, announced a $50 million bequest from the devoted alum.
The largest gift in the school’s history will go toward student scholarships and support for faculty and staff, Head of School Brian Hargrove told Boston.com.
“It’s incredibly humbling when you think about somebody’s devotion to a school and their willingness to consider how they can really change the arc of a place through their philanthropy and service,” Hargrove said.
The school, initially founded in 1879 as two institutions, aimed to provide schooling to young people who had limited financial resources to access an education. Mount Hermon’s first graduating class included a formerly enslaved student and international students from China, Sweden, England, Ireland, Canada, and Japan.
Living in an unheated house on Cape Cod, Mitchell was granted a scholarship to attend Mount Hermon School for Boys, where he became the valedictorian of his class, his obituary says. In lieu of flowers, the obituary asked for donations to Mount Hermon in his memory.
Today, about 40% of the student body receives aid money, according to the school, and over the past five years, Hargrove said Mount Hermon has increased financial aid by almost 50%.
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Despite Mitchell’s donations and work serving on the school’s Board of Trustees, at his request, no building bears his name. Hargrove described Mitchell as an “exacting person” when reflecting on his work supporting the school.
“He was a very precise person, he was very generous,” Hargrove said. “He could also be really particular in terms of the ways that we delivered our mission.”
Darik Velez, a science teacher at Mount Hermon, said the gift serves as a reminder of the impact that the school has on its students.
“Here’s someone at the end of their life, appreciating this portion of it and remembering it and saying that left a mark,” Velez, who has taught at Mount Hermon for four years, told Boston.com. “Every day, I hope that my students are getting the most important elements from their time here, from their time in my classroom.”
Velez, who lives in an on campus dorm with his family, also works as a coach for the girls’ volleyball team.
“The idea that [John Mitchell] would be talking to friends…about his football coach, about his time here,” Velez said. “That gives me hope.”
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