Hoags give $250K more 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 now donated $700,000 to the public library in Albion.
ALBION – Hoag Library’s biggest benefactors have boosted their giving to Albion’s public library.
Last week, Maurice “Mo” Hoag sent an email to Kevin Doherty, president of the library’s board of trustees. Hoag said to look out for a check coming soon. A cashier’s check arrived in the mail on Monday. It was for $250,000.
Mo and his wife, Courtenay, have now given $700,000 to the library that bears their name.
The couple first gave $25,000 towards the capital campaign for the new library, and increased it by $225,000. That $250,000 secured the naming rights to the new building, which opened in July 2012.
Since then the Hoags have sent $100,000 in 2015 and another $100,000 last year.
They make the donations in a low key manner, not seeking any fanfare, Doherty said.
Maurice Hoag has strong personal ties to the Albion area. 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 Maryland, but 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 Hoag Library opened in July 2012 on South Main Street in Albion.
The couple also pays for generous scholarships for Albion college students pursuing degrees in chemical engineering.
Doherty is driving to Warsaw this morning to deposit the check and have it reduce the mortgage through Steuben Trust.
The donation from the Hoags will bring the mortgage down to about $700,000, Doherty said. Rather than reduce the size of the annual payments, Doherty said the library’s board of trustees has decided to keep paying the same payments, which will allow the mortgage to get paid off sooner.
Doherty sent an email to library supporters on Monday, informing them of the latest gift from the Hoags.
He said the library has been busy with a summer reading program, and the air-conditioning in the building has been appreciated by the community during the current heat wave.
“But most of all, rest assured that the work you accomplished and the money that you gave, have created a premier institution in our little town that makes us proud,” Doherty said in his message to library donors.
