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G. Peabody "Peabo" Gardner Memorial Fund

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A gift from William B. Lowe (Harvard AB '71) established the G. Peabody "Peabo" Gardner Memorial Fund in support of the Harvard Summer Research Program in Ecology. The Fund supports Harvard undergraduates to work one-on-one with Harvard FAS faculty from science departments including Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Earth and Planetary Sciences, and Anthropology, on cutting-edge ecological and environmental research at the Harvard Forest and in Cambridge. The Fund provides awards towards participants' stipend, room, board, research supplies, and travel.

Recipients

2021

Arturo Aguilar '24. (mentored by Benton Taylor): Exudate in, Carbon out: the effect of specific root exudates on soil carbon dynamics

2019

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

Biographies

Mr. G. Peabody "Peabo" Gardner, Jr. was born to a Boston family whose connections to Harvard University go back generations. After attending Saint Mark's School in Southborough, Massachusetts, he entered Harvard, graduating cum laude in 1970. The Kirkland House resident was a member of the A.D. final club and Naval ROTC.

After graduation, Mr. Gardner served as a junior grade officer in the Naval Supply Corps on the submarine USS Fulton in New London, Connecticut, until 1973. He then worked for Sotheby's in New York for two years before moving to a private art gallery. Mr. Gardner returned to school at Babson College, where he received his MBA in 1979. He began working in development for the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, where he stayed until 1989. He left to become more involved with the Boston auction house of Grogan & Company. One year later Mr. Gardner found himself back at Harvard, working for the Harvard College Fund, where he became director of Leadership Giving.

Mr. Gardner died on September 5, 2007, from cancer. In the last week of his life, he was asked how he would describe himself to his great-great-great grandchildren. Without hesitation, Mr. Gardner responded, "I'd just like them to know that I was a good human being, that I was a caring human being."

Mr. William B. Lowe was born in Paris, France, and attended St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire, before arriving at Harvard College. A resident of Lowell House, he participated in the Hasty Pudding Theatricals and was a member of the Fly Club.

After graduation, Mr. Lowe moved to New York City and took a job in a bank, where he began learning about trading. For 11 years, he worked in New York as a trader. Then he and several colleagues opened up a trading company in Florida. During this transition, Mr. Lowe met his future wife, Jo, who introduced him to the extraordinary landscape of Idaho, where they eventually decided to settle. They were married in 1983, and Mr. Lowe continued his career as a trading and market consultant in this new and "diversely beautiful" community.

After the creation of his second trading partnership, Mr. Lowe began exploring other ventures, including an independent record label based in Portland, Oregon, and an intellectual property company in Pocatello, Idaho. Mr. Lowe stayed connected to Harvard through volunteering with the Harvard College Fund Reunion Committee and through his support of the Harvard University Center for the Environment.

Mr. Gardner and Mr. Lowe became friends as undergraduates, and their relationship continued as alumni and through their involvement with the Harvard College Fund. Upon Mr. Gardner's death, Mr. Lowe decided to name a gift in memory of his good friend. One of Mr. Lowe's passions lies with the environment, and he decided that a gift to the Harvard Forest would support his mission of assisting undergraduates and helping the environment at the same time.