Hoags donate another $100K to Albion library
Photos by Tom Rivers: This plaque at Hoag Library in Albion shows Maurice “Mo” Hoag and his wife, Courtenay. The couple has given $800,000 to the public library in Albion.
ALBION – Maurice “Mo” Hoag and his wife Courtenay have donated another $100,000 to the Hoag Library, bringing their total contributions to $800,000.
A check for $100,000 arrived at the library on July 5, addressed to Kevin Doherty, the board president. Doherty then drove the check to Warsaw to the library’s bank, Steuben Trust Company.
“It’s stunning,” Doherty said today about the donations from the Hoags. “Their original gift was stunning. The fact that they continue to do it is unbelievably generous.”
The Hoags initially gave $25,000 in the capital campaign for the new library. They gave another $225,000, bringing it to $250,000 for the naming rights to the building that opened in July 2012.
In July 2015, they sent another $100,000 check and then another $100,000 arrived on April 14, 2017. Last year they sent a check for $250,000.
The Hoags have never requested a photo opportunity or press release.
Their latest donation was noted in the agenda for this evening’s board meeting for the library.
The library has used continued donations to reduce the mortgage for the building. The mortgage started at $2.1 million and is now down to about $390,000 with the latest donation from the Hoags. That has drastically sped up the timetable for paying off the mortgage.
The Hoag Library opened in July 2012 on South Main Street in Albion.
Maurice Hoag has strong personal ties to the Albion area where he graduated from Albion High School in 1961 as valedictorian, as well as class president. He continued his education at Cornell where he earned a degree in chemical engineering and met his wife, Courtenay.
The couple currently lives in the Baltimore area. Maurice has maintained a relationship with Albion and Cornell classmates from the Albion area. The Hoags return to Albion yearly in August for an annual class picnic.
The couple also pays for generous scholarships for Albion college students pursuing engineering. They are funding two $12,500 scholarships that were approved last month for Class of 2019 graduates Zachary Moore and Jessy Cruz.
