In Memory: Donald M. Wilkinson ’61

“The reason I have served VMI is because I think VMI’s tradition of emphasis on the universal values of integrity, service, duty, responsibility, resolve, honor and patriotism are crucial to the preservation of our way of life as a society, our constitutional democracy and our personal freedom.

“We have something quite unusual here at VMI. We teach, adopt and hopefully as a group live, as best we can, the age-old, enduring and truthful principles … Given what VMI stands for, is it any wonder that so many see fit to serve the Institute?” Donald M. Wilkinson Jr. ’61 said these words as part of his remarks after receiving the VMI Foundation Distinguished Service Award at the Founders Day convocation in November 2010.

Wilkinson, who later was the chairman of VMI’s most recent comprehensive fundraising campaign, An Uncommon Purpose, and the founding chairman of the General J. H. Binford Peay III 1962 Endowment for Academic Excellence, died April 13, 2020. He was 82.

Matriculating from Richmond, Virginia, as a cadet, Wilkinson was a corporal, a sergeant major and a captain, commanding Company A. He had a distinct literary bent, serving as the associate editor and editor of the 1960 and 1961 editions of The Bomb, respectively, and on the staff of The Cadet for two years. He also edited his class’ edition of The Bullet and Ring Figure magazine. He was on his class’ Ring Committee and Ring Figure Committee and was a member of the Timmons Music Society. In his rat year, he was a manager for the football team and ran track.

Although he was an English major, he took a course in money and banking with renowned VMI economics professor Col. Alexander H. Morrison ’939. In a 2011 interview, he recalled the decisive effect it had on him, especially its discussion of the international monetary system and exchange rates. “I was immediately fascinated. I have been fortunate to deal with this monetary system all my professional life, and it still fascinates me.” His interest in the subjects must have been evident to his brother rats, because in his history in The Bomb, he was described as “VMI’s John Maynard Keynes.”

After graduation, he served in the U.S. Army as an air defense artillery officer from 1962-64. He then enrolled in the Master of Business Administration program of the University of Virginia’s Colgate W. Darden School of Business, from which he graduated in 1966.

In 1972, he co-founded the global investment-management firm, Wilkinson O’Grady. Five years later, he became its president and served in that capacity until 1994 when he became its chairman. After 20 years in that position, he became the firm’s chairman emeritus and retired from it in 2016.

Although he lived in New York City for five decades, Wilkinson’s native Virginia and the colleges he attended there were never far from his mind. He served on the Darden School’s Board of Trustees and was its chairman, and in 2008, he received its highest honor, the Charles C. Abbott Award.

He never lost touch with his brother rats, either. His class agent, Sal Vitale ’61, recalls Wilkinson would invite brother rats to visit his family’s summer house on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. “Don and Luly were great hosts, and those are some of the best memories I have of Don.” Making those visits even more remarkable was the fact that the Wilkinsons’ house was haunted. “One night at dinner, we learned that after everyone went to sleep, the ghost would light the candles in the dining room. Sure enough, the next morning, we found the candles lit.”

His brother rats also were supportive of him: “When Don gave a lecture at Mariners Museum in Newport News about his relative who was a blockade runner in the Civil War, we organized a group of BRs to cheer him on. When he gave the lecture at the Virginia Historical Society, we were there, too.”

As Wilkinson, in Vitale’s words, “did not miss very many Institute Society Dinners,” he always was in the photograph of the attendees of the Class of 1961 – always easy to spot because of his Highland dress.

Wilkinson’s service to VMI stretched over more than three decades and included service to the Institute itself and the VMI Alumni Agencies. He was a member of the VMI Board of Visitors from 1999-2007. He served as its vice president from 2005-07 and was the chairman of its Academic Affairs Committee for four years.

Wilkinson was a volunteer with VMI’s Sesquicentennial Challenge in the 1980s. From 1989-97, he served on the VMI Foundation’s Board of Trustees. From 2000-05, he was the vice chairman of VMI’s campaign, Reveille: A Call to Excel, which raised $207 million for the Institute and its cadets. In 2002, he helped establish the Jackson-Hope Fund. As mentioned earlier, he was chairman of An Uncommon Purpose: A Glorious Past, A Brilliant Future: The Campaign for VMI from 2012-17, which raised a staggering $344 million from 15,000 alumni and friends. More recently, he was one of the leaders in the creation of the General J. H. Binford Peay III 1962 Endowment for Academic Excellence. The endowment is dedicated to improving the Institute’s academic program by expanding support of academic chairs, increasing the amount of merit scholarship support for cadets and establishing academic fellowships. By the time of Wilkinson’s death, four chairs and a number of merit scholarships had been created and more than $28 million in gifts and commitments had been made to the endowment.

Retired U.S. Air Force Gen. John P. Jumper ’66, who as a member of the Board of Visitors from 2009-17 and its president from 2016-17, often worked with Wilkinson. Jumper served with Wilkinson on the Jackson-Hope Fund’s Overseers and the board of the Peay Endowment (Jumper is now its chairman), had high praise for Wilkinson. “Many of us consider ourselves passionate about VMI. For Don Wilkinson, it was woven into the fabric of his life. His decades of service to the Institute have literally changed the landscape of VMI. As a member of the Board of Visitors, Don was an avid supporter of General Peay’s strategic plan, Vision 2039. As always, Don turned his support into action by assuming chairmanship of An Uncommon Purpose, which he led to enormous success and the betterment of the Institute. Donny himself said it best: ‘[O]ur nation’s strength is dependent on the number of its population who carry [VMI’s] values in the very core of who they are. VMI helps young men and women get there and that is rare indeed.’ The world is a lesser place without our beloved friend.”

Gen. J.H. Binford Peay III ’62, superintendent, said of Wilkinson, “Don has been a leader serving the VMI Board of Visitors, the VMI Foundation and the Institute since his graduation in 1961. He performed these duties with energy, intellect and sincere passion … and the Institute has been able to serve its cadets and the community better because of him. He was a quiet, reflective giant, who served his nation and the business community with virtue, integrity and patriotism. His death is a great loss for VMI and me personally.”

Wilkinson is survived by his wife, Elaine Audrey Werner Wilkinson, who he married in 2016. Wilkinson’s first wife, Lucinda “Luly” Moles Pina Wilkinson, who was a student at Mary Baldwin College when they met on a blind date during his 1st Class year, predeceased him in 2000. He also is survived by his two sons and two daughters and their spouses, as well as eight grandchildren.