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[[preprinted]] Rockefeller Center New York 20, N.Y. Room 5600 30 Rockefeller Plaza [[/preprinted]] April 6, 1953 Dear Dr. Patterson: I am in receipt of you letter of March 5th advising me that you are resigning from the presidency of Tuskegee Institute as of June 1st of this year to become Educational Director of the Phelps Stokes Fund, thus concluding twenty-five years of relationship to Tuskegee. These twenty-five years have been notable in the growth and development which Tuskegee has achieved under your able and devoted leadership. They have also been notable in the record of outstanding leadership. The have also been notable in the record of outstanding service to the Negro race which you have made so modestly, so efficiently and so enduringly. That our family and certain of the Boards which my father established have been helpful to you in your work at Tuskegee gives us the deepest satisfaction. We rejoice in the wide recognition and support which has been given it and in the honor which it has brought you. To have been one of your fellow workers throughout the greater part of your active life has been to me a real privilege and a high satisfaction. Your friendship has enriched my life. Your outstanding powers of leadership have commanded my admiration and your unassuming modesty has endeared you to me. The fields of endeavor to which you have been devoting yourself these past twenty-five years will greatly miss your inspiring personality and leadership. I am happy to believe, however, that as the Educational Director of the Phelps Stokes Fund your influence will continue to be widely exerted, and to know that your cooperation with the United Negro College Fund will be unabated. Rejoicing in the significant contribution which you have made to your day and generation, I am, Very Sincerely, [[signed]] John D. Rockefeller Jr. [[/signed]] Dr. F. D. Patterson, President Tuskegee Institute Tuskegee Institute P. O. Alabama
