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OUTDOORS
Fiesta heir bequeathes $9 million to The Nature Conservancy
Courtesy of the Nature Conservancy
An heir to the fortune earned by Fiesta® brand tableware, a man whose love for fishing took him to rare and important habitats around the world, has bequeathed about $9 million to the global conservation organization, The Nature Conservancy.
Robert Wells, of Newell, West Virginia, chose the Conservancy for this exceedingly generous gift because he recognized that the private conservation group has both global reach and a record of conservation accomplishments, said Stuart N. "Buzz" Hutchison III, Mr. Wells' attorney and a close friend of Mr. Wells and his late wife, Carolyn.
"He and Carolyn had done some traveling in areas where the Conservancy works, areas like the Chilean coast, where they saw penguins and seals. They were impressed by the Conservancy's scope, your wide footprint," Hutchison said. "Bob and Carolyn liked the fact that, instead of being just local or even regional, the Conservancy would reach out, in a global way, to protect nature."
Mr. Wells, who was born in 1927 in East Liverpool, Ohio, spent most of his life in the management of The Homer Laughlin China Co., a family business and manufacturer of Fiesta® Dinnerware pottery. The Wells family has co-owned Homer Laughlin since 1897. The couple had been members and supporters of the Conservancy for more than 20 years. When Mrs. Wells passed away in 2005, she also left a generous bequest to the Conservancy.
"Truly, Robert and Carolyn Wells' legacy will continue forever as their gift will benefit places all over the world," said Ed Cadogan, senior associate director of gift planning for the Conservancy, who spoke at Mr. Wells' memorial service. "I can't think of a better legacy, and The Nature Conservancy is very privileged to have been selected by the Wells to carry out their wishes."
The bulk of the gift will be spent on the Conservancy's global work. The organization based in Arlington, Virginia, works in all 50 U.S. states and in more than 30 countries around the planet, and operates marine conservation projects in 21 countries.
Twenty percent of the gift will be spent in Wells' home state of West Virginia, where it will be focused on globally-significant habitat in the Central Appalachian Mountains, said Rodney Bartgis, the Conservancy's state director in West Virginia.
"Their extraordinarily generous bequests to the Conservancy today are a tangible reminder of Robert and Carolyn's shared belief in the importance of conservation and their confidence in the Conservancy," Bartgis said. "The impact of their vision and generosity will live on for generations."
Hutchison said Robert and Carolyn Wells both were enthusiastic anglers. "For their first date, Bob picked up Carolyn at 4:30 a.m. to go catfishing," he said. This rather unusual first date was the beginning of a shared love of nature and the outdoors that spanned the rest of their lives together. After they married in 1953, they traveled all over the world to fish and enjoy the diverse beauty of places from Mexico, to New Zealand, to Chile.
Hutchison, a partner in the Pittsburgh office of K&L Gates, said he got to know Wells through the Pittsburgh Sportsmen's Luncheon Club. Wells was a long-time member and former president of the club. The two men often participated in club outings to Spruce Creek, a popular trout stream near State College, Pennsylvania. They also fished together in Alaska and in other places in the U.S.
"A year ago, Bob celebrated his 80th birthday, and at the end of the party my wife and I agreed to join him in a fishing trip to Chile," Hutchison said. "A month later, he was gone."
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