Sam Wyly, Dallas Parent, Gives to Campaign

Campaign Bulletin – Princeton University
July 1982

Not all of the leading contributors to A Campaign for Princeton are alumni. Sam Wyly is a Dallas entrepreneur who founded Wyly Corporation and earth Resources Company, and is president of Wyly Family Companies which has venture capital investments in computer software, telecommunications, oil and gas, restaurant chains, and real estate.

He has given $150,000 to assist faculty members in meeting the educational needs of their children.

Wyly, who graduated from Louisianan Tech and went to business school at the University of Michigan, has been a benefactor of both of these schools as well as Southern Methodist University, where he served eight years as a trustee. There have been over 1,000 Wyly Scholars at Louisiana Tech and the sixteen-story Wyly Tower of Learning was built with the assistance of Wyly and his brother, Charles.

Wyly says he got interested in Princeton when his son, Evan, matriculated with the
Class of 1984.

“Dr. Penn Laird here in Dallas is the most enthusiastic alumnus you’ve got,” Wyly said. “Every year he talks to graduates of several high schools and last year he cornered Evan and several other football players at Highland Park High School and told them about Princeton. Evan and I visited Princeton and we met Bill Bowen. Evan applied at only two places − Princeton and Vanderbilt − and that made me nervous. He said if he got in Princeton, he was going there. He got in and he likes it.”

Wyly visits the campus whenever he’s in New York on business. “I ride the train down from New York,” he said. “You know we don’t have trains in Dallas.”
“Princeton is a place of real quality and deserves support,” he said. “It’s very impressive. It’s a beautiful place to visit and it’s one of the world’s finest universities. I wanted to be helpful.”

Wyly serves on the Parents’ Committee for Annual Giving.