The Colonel Francis T. Colby Society, which recognizes donors whose cumulative lifetime giving equals a minimum of $100,000, pays tribute to those who have had a major impact on the Museum. Our mission is immeasurably deepened by the individuals, corporations, and foundations who are Colby Society members, and we profoundly thank them for their generosity. A full listing of current Colby Society members is on display at the entrance to the Museum's Colby Room.
Posted by MUSEUM OF SCIENCE
The Colby Award is bestowed annually on members of the Museum of Science family who have made extraordinary contributions of time, treasure, and talent to the Museum. Philanthropy is the lifeblood of any institution, and the Museum is no exception. The Colby Award recognizes the deep financial commitment and generous volunteer efforts of people who are so important to the Museum achieving its mission.
Founded in 1986 with a focus on giving back to the Greater Boston community in the areas of human services, education, healthcare, and social justice, Cummings Foundation has inspired generations of Boston area residents through its generous support of capital, program, and exhibit development projects at the Museum of Science and throughout Eastern Massachusetts.
Founded in 1836 with a mission to inform the populace regardless of gender, race, or economic status, the Lowell Institute has reached generations of Boston area residents by sponsoring free public lectures and other educational programs at the Museum of Science and elsewhere.
The Lowell Institute and the Museum of Science have a shared history dating back to 1840. That was the year of the first Lowell Lecture—given on geology by Yale professor Benjamin Silliman and featuring specimens borrowed from the Boston Society of Natural History, the Museum’s founding organization.
The relationship evolved as the Society transformed into the Museum of Science, and remains close to this day. Thanks to the Institute’s support, the Museum produces Forums and Lectures & Special Programs addressing a range of important and timely science topics. The Institute’s generosity also provides free access to the Museum through Astronomy After Hours, the High School Science Series, overnights, Traveling Programs, the Lowell Library Pass Program, and more.
A Museum of Science trustee emeritus since 2002, M. Dozier Gardner was nominated to the board of museum advisors in 1990 and joined the ranks of trustees in 1993. His family’s membership in the Museum’s Discoverers Society began in 1980. The goal of his philanthropy to the Museum has been to help build capacity and to expand the institution’s reach.
His family’s foundation, the Cedar Street Foundation, has contributed challenge grant funds to spur membership in the Museum’s Annual Fund giving societies, particularly The Innovators, and to support production of the Museum of Science magazine. Cedar Street has also issued grants to many local nonprofits, such as Trinity Church, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society, Building Excellent Schools, the Park School, the Greenwich Country Day School, and Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, among many others.
Dozier, who is an avid birder and sportsman, has served as a trustee of Wellesley College, Dana-Farber, and Deerfield Academy. He was a director at Eaton Vance beginning in 1970, served as president from 1979 to 1990, and as president and CEO from 1990 to 1996. He received his BA in chemistry from Princeton in 1955 and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1959. Dozier and his wife, Sandy, are Museum of Science Great Benefactors.
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