Herick Wetlands

Dr. Ferenc De Szalay, an assistant professor of biological sciences, works with a student at the Herrick wetlands near the baseball stadium.

Evergreen Gifts

Herricks' passion for education remains vibrant

By Rachel Wenger, '00

A rainbow sits atop the dresser. Petite vases filled with freshly snipped flowers of lavender, orange and mustard-yellow blooms exude warmth in the corner of the room.

While for many people, the idea of gathering a bouquet — a hint of Mother Nature accessorizing a dinner table or nightstand — is rather ordinary, the cut flowers in the Herrick home, located in an assisted-living facility in Hudson, Ohio, take on unique meaning.

Dr. J Arthur (Art),99, and Margaret Herrick, 89, are Kent State emeriti professors of biology and speech pathology and audiology, respectively. Art’s retirement in 1972 may have halted his 35-year university career, but it didn’t dampen his passion as a biologist or conservationist.

“There is hardly a day when he doesn’t bring in fresh flowers, even if it is a dandelion,” says Margaret, ’41.

The Herricks enjoy full lives. The couple’s walls and shelves are dressed with art from many travels. As they point out a photo or a vase, the two recall the origin of each treasure: Madagascar, Ecuador and South America, to name a few.

“As a biologist and a naturalist, I had a curiosity to see the things you read about. I wanted to see rare flowers, polar bears and penguins,” Art says.

After visiting 170 countries, he fulfilled his fantasy of seeing the world, and on many trips, Margaret accompanied him.

Art credits his ability to plunge into his love for biology and research to receiving an education and to his professorship at Kent State.

“There is no question that education is good for you. By virtue of education, people obtain better jobs, pay better taxes and have a better standard of living,” he says. “Education gives you a chance to do what you want to do.”

A change of scenery

On the verge of receiving his doctorate in biology at Ohio State in 1937, Art thought he had his immediate future planned: He would graduate and take a research position in West Virginia. Then, a friend who was a Kent State alumnus told him about the need for biology faculty at Kent State.

After Art communicated with Kent State via telegram, his friend persuaded him to “get in my car and drive to Kent” to explore the opportunity. He stayed on campus and interviewed with the president and department dean.

“In those days, Kent State was a pretty small place. I wasn’t very impressed with what I saw,” he says. “There were 1,800 students and few buildings, so the campus was bursting at the seams.”

Art traveled back to Columbus and discussed the position with his boss.

“He said, ‘Yeah, they don’t have much right now, but they do have a future. Go and get experience and as the institution grows, you can grow with it,’” Art remembers.

In 1937, Art joined the “family at Kent State.” Many years before teaching at the university, he worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, conducting biological research. He had every intention of continuing this research, but certainly not teaching.

“But it was love at first sight,” he says.

"I had no idea before I got there, but then I knew it was love. The ideal job. Teaching was the ideal observation. Working with young people, vacation time to travel and an immense amount of freedom.”

For Margaret, teaching was a dream she held close since kindergarten.

Her parents moved to Alliance, where she enrolled in Mount Union College to study English; at that time, the college didn’t have an elementary education program. Soon after, she attended Kent State to receive her second bachelor’s degree, this one in teaching. She moved back to Alliance to teach fourth grade and loved it.

“But at Christmastime, when I wrote out my cards, I realized that I didn’t have any new ones to write,” says Margaret. “It was the same old list as I had last year. I decided that this wouldn’t do, and I resigned.”

Her fascination with Lake Erie inspired her to move to Lorain, where she taught sixth grade. When the assistant principal died, Margaret stepped in to take on the role until the end of the school year.

“When school was over, they wouldn’t even consider hiring a woman as a principal, so I left — flat,” she says.

She attended Case Western Reserve University and received a master’s degree in speech pathology and audiology, with her interests growing more specifically in speech pathology. Margaret then started teaching at Kent State, where she purchased a small, “special” house on Morris Road, on the outskirts of campus.

“Before I even moved in, my next-door neighbor came over and asked if there was anything that he could do for me,” she says. “I soon realized he was the handyman for all of the older women and teachers in the neighborhood.”

Art, who built his home on Morris Road years before, was always there to help. The two became longtime friends.

On the verge of retirement in 1982, Margaret asked Art’s assistance in deciphering how she could better finance living on her pension. Art had a reputation for understanding the money world, and volunteered to act as an advisor.

“I told her that the easiest way to manage her finances would be to combine hers and mine so we wouldn’t have anything to worry about,” he says. “She said, ‘Are you proposing to me?’ And I said, ‘Well, I might be.’” The couple married in 1982.

Gifts of a lifetime

Because of their exuberance for the importance of education, the Herricks have honored Kent State with more than 100 gifts totaling approximately $3.2 million.

One of the Herricks’ donations to the university is The Art and Margaret Herrick Conservation/Aquatic Biology Research Support Fund, which is dedicated to education in the biological sciences.

Another, a 140-acre wetland located in the Tinkers Creek watershed of Portage County — now owned by The Nature Conservancy and Kent State University — started as a tract of land purchased by Art in 1969. The Nature Conservancy dedicated the Herrick Fen Nature Preserve in 2001.

It is especially fitting, too, that the sale of the Herricks’ Morris Road home in Kent will translate into support for a teaching laboratory for biology students, since the house has been used to serve the same purpose for many years. The 1.5-acre property features about 250 species of native plants, including 40 kinds of trees, and Art often would bring his Kent State students to the site for field identification.

Many of the Herricks’ gifts to the university are irrevocable life income gifts, in which the donor gives the money to Kent State, but reserves a lifetime income. Once the gift matures, the funds go toward charitable purposes.

In the Herricks’ case, the gifts came in the form of charitable remainder trusts: the university receives the gift, invests it and gives a portion of the earnings back to the donor on an annual basis.

“Education is the basis of everything. As I got older, I more and more appreciate that,” Art says. “When I had a spare dollar, instead of buying a lollipop, I decided that I would save and buy education for the world.”