University of Delaware
Office of Public Relations
The Messenger
Vol. 6, No. 1/1996
Marion B. Peavey appointed vice president for development and alumni
relations

     A after a national search, the man who has led highly
successful capital campaigns at the University of Alabama and the
University of Virginia has been named the new vice president for
development and alumni relations at the University of Delaware.
     Marion B. Peavey, vice president for development and alumni
affairs at the University of Alabama since 1990, replaces Charles
M. Forbes, who is retiring as vice president. Forbes will
continue to serve as special assistant to the president,
collaborating on several donor initiatives now in progress.
     The vice president for development and alumni relations
reports to the president and is responsible for planning,
coordinating and directing the fund- raising and alumni programs
for the University.
     "I'm looking forward to working with Marion Peavey,"
President David Roselle says. "A dynamic and low-key leader, he
has a proven record in fund raising. Peavey administered a
successful campaign at the University of Virginia, and his
current campaign to raise $165 million at the University of
Alabama exceeded its goal a year before its scheduled conclusion.
I'm confident he will be a great asset to our efforts here," he
says.
     At Alabama, Peavey, 53, has led the largest capital campaign
in that institution's history, and gifts and pledges have
exceeded the goal by more than $3 million.
     In addition, overall annual giving to the University of
Alabama has continued to set records under Peavey's guidance,
currently standing at more than $30 million per year. Alabama's
national alumni association has reached record active membership
levels of 34,000 and set new records for academic scholarship
support.
     Peavey served as vice president for development and
university relations at the University of Virginia from 1981-90.
From 1981-84, he organized and implemented UVa's first
comprehensive capital campaign, which met its $90 million goal in
less than two years, ultimately reaching $147 million at the end
of three years and making it the largest campaign for a public
university in the nation at that time.
     Private annual gift support to the University of Virginia
also increased from $12 million to $51.6 million, and alumni
giving increased from 9 percent in 1980 to 37 percent in 1990.
     Peavey served on the advancement team at Duke University
from 1974-81, first as associate director of development and
director of area campaigns, then as director of development and
finally as director of institutional advancement.
     From 1967-74, he was affiliated with Wofford College,
serving first as director of information services and later as
associate director of development and director of alumni affairs.
     Peavey received his bachelor's degree in English and history
at Wofford in 1965 and his master's degree in journalism and
communications at the University of South Carolina in 1967. He
also has taken advanced courses in trusts and estates, corporate
law and estate planning at Duke University Law School.