Frank and Jane Batten have given generously to Culver Academies. With their prior gifts to Culver and to the By Example Campaign for Culver, including gifts to establish the Batten Scholars program and the Batten Fellows program, Jane and Frank Batten had given more than $54 million to Culver during their lifetime. With the success of the Batten Leadership Challenge, the $50 million in matching funds earned for the endowment will bring the Battens' total lifetime giving to Culver Academies to more than $104 million (in the By Example Campaign alone, Jane and Frank have now contributed over $92 million, with every penny going towards the endowment or Annual Fund.). It is impossible to fully describe the impact that Jane and Frank have had and will continue to have on Culver, in perpetuity. This level of support and generosity is rarely matched at any type of institution!
Supporting higher education, the Battens have donated $32 million to the Harvard Business School, $60 million to the Darden Graduate School of Business in Virginia, and $100 million to the University of Virginia (the largest gift in the school’s history) to establish the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.
A graduate of Culver Military Academy, Frank Batten CMA ‘45 is a communications entrepreneur who has made a mark in many ways. Under his leadership as a publisher, in 1960 The Virginian-Pilot newspaper received a Pulitzer Prize for articles championing desegregation. The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star in Norfolk, Virginia were the foundation of Landmark Communications, the privately-held media company that he grew by acquiring additional newspapers, radio stations, and television stations, as well as by founding a new cable station -- The Weather Channel -- the 24-hour cable weather station launched in 1982. He also served as chairman of the Associated Press from 1982 to 1987.
Frank Batten attended Culver Naval School in 1940. He served on the Culver Summer Schools & Camps staff in 1944. As a cadet at Culver Military Academy in the 1940s, Frank earned Gold and Silver A’s, won varsity letters in track and cross-country, and was a member of the Honor Guard. He rose from private to captain and commanded Company C as a first-classman. Graduating in the final months of World War II, he joined the Merchant Marine and was commissioned in late 1945 as a Naval officer.
Batten was honored as Culver’s 17th Man of the Year in 1984. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia in 1950 and his MBA from Harvard in 1952.
Frank Batten passed away on September 10, 2009, in Norfolk, Virginia, at the age of 82. He is survived by his wife, Jane, and their three children: Frank, Mary, and Dorothy.
