Donald R. Matthews, who passed away at the beginning of this month, is credited with topping the list for the largest faculty donation to the College of Arts and Sciences as well as starting the University's largest faculty exchange program.

Matthews left with an auspicious bang when he retired from the political sciences department at the UW.

"He was a very giving man," said David Olson, professor emeritus of political science and a personal friend of Matthews. "We're just not going to see anyone quite like him around here again."

Matthews was 82 when he passed away at Swedish Medical Center after ongoing complications with emphysema. He leaves behind a legacy that continues to have positive ramifications for UW students and staff alike.

His $814,000 donation set up the Donald R. Matthews Endowment for Excellence in Political Science. A decade later, the fund still provides graduate level fellowships for political science students. The fund also provides the Donald R. Matthews Professorship in American Politics.

"It was a great opportunity and also not having to worry about being a TA and made for a really wonderful experience," said Brandon Bosch, a past recipient of the fellowship. "I could focus on course work and my own sort of professional development."

The fellowship allows graduate students to forgo the usual responsibility of serving as a teaching assistant or research assistant. Instead, the students who receive the fellowship can concentrate on their own studies and are encouraged to pursue extracurricular research in lieu of a teaching assistant position.

"During summer quarter, I was able to take summer classes and pursue my own research projects," said Seth Greenfest, a former recipient of the fellowship. "In this respect, the fellowship allowed me to explore research ideas that had popped up over the previous academic year."

The donations Matthews gave to the University come at the end of an illustrious career. Matthews arrived as chair of the political sciences department in 1976 with an established reputation in the political sciences. His book U.S. Senators and Their World was published in 1960 and was well received among high-level politicians including John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.

"It's a landmark volume that everyone uses," Olson said. "It was reprinted six times and is still being used."

Matthews also wrote and published more than a dozen other books over the course of his academic career. His first, The Social Background of Political Decision Makers, was published in 1954.

Along with his writings, Matthews did much to construct a positive work environment within the University's political sciences department.

"He came in 1976 as the new chairman at the UW, and the political sciences department, was a rough place; faculty members did not get along," Olson said. "They threw chairs at each other."

Matthews engineered a system for decision-making that is still in place in 2007. His leadership and his generous donations are well remembered by the current members of the political sciences department and a memorial service is being planned in his honor.

[Reach reporter Andrew Doughman at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]