Oxford gets $41 mln from Ahmet Ertegün

ISTANBUL-Hürriyet Daily News

Ahmet Ertegün and his wife Mica Ertegün are seen in the photo. The Ertegün family’s scholarship program will initially fund 15 annual international scholarships. Hürriyet photo

Oxford University says the widow of Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun has donated more than 26 million pounds ($41 million) to fund humanities scholarships for graduate students, the Associated Press reported.

Mica Ertegün said her husband, who died in 2006, had loved the arts. She said the enriching potential of the arts and humanities was especially important “in these times, when there is so much strife in the world.”

The university said yesterday the donation is one of the biggest in its 900-year history.

The Mica and Ahmet Ertegun Graduate Scholarship Program will initially fund 15 annual international scholarships for the study of subjects including literature, history, music, art history, Asian studies, Middle Eastern studies and archaeology. That will rise to 35 scholarships a year.

Ahmet Ertegün was a Turkish American musician and businessman, best known as the founder and president of Atlantic Records, and for discovering or artists like Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Genesis, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Crosby, Stills Nash, and Young, Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles. He also wrote classic blues and pop songs and served as Chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and museum.