Professor Bequeaths Millions —to Her Students

A retired art history professor died in Florida in 2020 with a $2.8 million fortune and not much family of her own—at least not blood-related. But as Hank Sanders writes at the New York Times, Cris Hassold, who taught at New College of Florida for 50 years, considered her students her children. They were her companions throughout life. They wrote her obituary, according to the college. Even the executor of Hassold's estate had been taught by her. And they were remembered in Hassold's will. Of the 36 people named, 31 were former students, who received between $26,000 and $560,000, depending on their closeness to the former professor and their degree of need.

Hassold, a Kentucky native, had as much of an impact on her students as they apparently had on her. Dr. Nicole Archer, an associate professor of art history and gender studies at Montclair State University, recalls Hassold, who never married and never had children, once telling students, "What would I do with a husband?" "It was kind of like the most amazing moment I had ever had," says Archer. "She is just herself. It was a type of woman I had never met." "An unapologetic feminist, Cris's commitment to women's equality was reflected not only in her scholarship but in the unconventional course she charted for herself as a fiercely independent woman," according to the obituary.

Hassold would lead small groups of students in hours-long discussions. Once those were over, the professor could often be found engaged with students over "long, informal dinners," Sanders writes. "She had a collection of students in the same way that she had endless collections of books," says Archer. A hoarder, "she wasn't very good at letting things, or people, go." Hassold was 85 when she finally retired in 2016. She suffered a stroke in April 2020 and died a few months later at age 89. Archer later learned she'd inherited $100,000. Another former student received about $26,000 which helped in her recovery from surgery. She says Hassold accepted her unconditionally when her parents did not. "I think about her almost every day," the woman tells the Times. (More uplifting news stories.)