Contact:  Rick Peterson, Manager of News Services, 920/832-6590
For Immediate Release                                        June 22, 1999							

Neenah Native Establishes Lawrence University's Largest Scholarship Fund
with $1.7 Million Bequest


     APPLETON, WIS. -- Arthur Hanson lived a life unburdened by possessions.
A quiet, thoughtful man, his interests gravitated more toward matters of the
mind than materialism.
     The youngest son from a modest family, Hanson grew up in the heart of
Neenah, attending grade school and high school there before earning a
bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1934 from Lawrence University.  Attending
college in the midst of the Great Depression was a privilege he cherished,
one made possible only through the sacrifices of his uncles and an older
brother, who helped raise him from the age of nine after his father died.
     Hanson's four years at Lawrence left an indelible imprint on his life,
career and personal pursuits and he felt compelled to ensure similar
opportunities for future generations of students.  When he died earlier this
year at the age of 86, Hanson included Lawrence in his will, bequeathing the
college nearly $1.7 million in mostly blue chip securities for a scholarship
fund to support students pursuing a Lawrence education, much as his family
had helped him more than 60 years ago.  
     The Arthur M. Hanson Scholarship Fund will be Lawrence's largest among
more than 300 currently endowed scholarships and will provide financial
assistance to students studying philosophy, economics and science.
     The news -- and the size -- of the totally unexpected bequest was
delivered in a long-distance phone call unlike any other Lawrence President
Richard Warch had taken in his nearly 20 years as president of the college.
Speaking to a total stranger about a gift from someone he had never known or
even met, left Warch momentarily stunned.
     "My secretary told me that someone was on the phone for me and he had
told her that I would want to take his call," said Warch of his first
conversation with David Hanson, a relative of Arthur's who was handling the
estate.  "As it turned out, I was never happier to be interrupted than I was
for that call.  
     "As anyone could imagine, hearing of Arthur Hanson's generosity to the
college made my day, my week and my month. I can't express deeply enough my
gratitude and admiration to a man I never had the good fortune to meet for
leaving the college a bequest of this magnitude, a gift that will serve to
support Lawrence students in perpetuity."
	     David Hanson of Madison, a close nephew of Arthur, who never had
children of his own, said his uncle always felt grateful for the opportunity
to attend Lawrence, especially during the Great Depression, and earn a
college education.  
     "Uncle Art felt strongly that Lawrence was responsible for planting
that passion for learning in him."
     While Arthur Hanson enjoyed a long, but hardly lucrative career as a
scientist -- he spent nearly 30 years working for the New York State
Department of Health, Division of Labs and Research, investigating waste and
pollution sites, including the infamous toxic Love Canal area --Êhe
maintained a life-long interest in philosophy, economics and business.  He
channeled those interests into a passion for the stock market and thoughtful
investing.
     "Immediate profit was not his goal," said David Hanson.  "He preferred
to make long-term decisions based on a philosophy of value investing and
promotion of the economic future."
     "He avoided stocks where the CEO's were rewarded for dismantling
companies or where board members themselves were not substantial investors,"
he added.  "He avoided tobacco and alcohol stocks, preferring
pharmaceuticals, high tech and manufacturing companies where his technical
knowledge allowed him to evaluate a company, its products and prospects." 
     As the technology revolution ushered pagers, e-mail and cellular phones
to the communication forefront, Hanson still believed in the power of the
hand-written letter, earning legendary status among family and friends for
his long -- sometimes as much as 30 pages -- and frequentÊcorrespondence
that not only detailed the latest developments in his life, but also
addressed the issues of the day. 
	     For most of Matthew Hanson's life, his great-uncle Arthur was "a
mystery figure," a distant relative.  But when Matthew extended an
invitation to attend his college graduation in 1992, it sparked a
late-blooming relationship between them that grew close through Arthur's
dedicated letter-writing.
	     "A lot of his letters to me dealt with the importance of education,"
recalled Matthew Hanson, Cambridge, Mass.  "Arthur had a great belief in
human ingenuity to solve problems and he felt strongly that education
prepares people to improve the lot of humanity.  He had great appreciation
for his Lawrence education."
     "He was very much a philosopher with an uncanny sense of what was
important in life," Matthew added. "He was never interested in accumulating
things, but always was intensely curious about a variety of subjects right
up to the end of his life."
     After leaving the Fox Valley and serving in the Air Force during World 
War II, Hanson settled in New York, spending most of his life living in
Albany and Syracuse.  He returned to his Fox Valley roots in March of 1998
and was living at the Evergreen Retirement Community in Oshkosh at the time
of his death.