When UD’s new research vessel was formally commissioned at the Lewes campus in May, members of the family of the late Hugh Rodney Sharp joined President David P. Roselle in unveiling the ship’s name.

The Research Vessel Hugh R. Sharp is named in honor of the late Mr. Sharp, a University trustee and benefactor.

“Hugh Sharp both loved and was intrigued by the sea and his enthusiasm for its study and exploration was infectious,” Roselle said during the ceremony. “We are indebted to Hugh Sharp and the Sharp family for their legacy of philanthropy to our University, a legacy that began with Hugh’s father, H. Rodney Sharp, more than 100 years ago.”

In the early 1970s, Hugh R. Sharp, the great-great-grandson of Eleuthère Irénée du Pont, the founder of the DuPont Co., helped raise money to purchase the Cape Henlopen, by organizing a group of private philanthropists known as “Plank Owners.” He also was the founding president of Marine Associates, a group of individuals whose mission is the support and advocacy of marine research and education.

Mr. Sharp helped to establish several laboratories and an endowed professorship in marine biochemistry. The University’s campus in Lewes also is named for him.

“Mr. Sharp will always be remembered for his wise counsel and for his gentle enthusiasm,” Roselle said. “He was a man admired by many. Hugh Sharp was a member of the Board of Trustees at the time the graduate College of Marine Studies came into being. He was a fundamental force in the college’s early growth and development and was always a champion of the school.”

Carolyn Thoroughgood, former dean of the college and now the University’s vice provost for research, met Mr. Sharp soon after she joined the faculty in 1968 and worked with him on several major development projects during her 20-year tenure as dean.

“Fortunately for us, Hugh was very interested in the sea and he, in a sense, adopted the College of Marine Studies as his own,” Thoroughgood says. “He very much wanted us to succeed.”
She notes that Mr. Sharp’s legacy has continued through his three children, sons H. Rodney and William and daughter Donnan.