At their Weldon high school in northeastern North Carolina, the Cochranes excelled in sports and study. They graduated near the top of their 1970 Carolina class; Luther, the National Merit Scholar and political science major, finished fifth; Haywood, the Morehead Scholar and political science major, tenth. Today, Haywood is president and CEO of Meridian Corporate Healthcare in Nashville.

As alumni, the Cochranes continue to support Carolina's academic programs. The brothers recently committed $275,000 that includes a $100,000 reduction in Bovis' contractor fees for the JCUE and joins Luther's Bicentennial Campaign gift of $100,000 to the JCUE. The Center's lobby will be named in honor of their parents, Haywood D. and Frances Parks Cochrane.

The brothers also have endowed a Carolina Scholars award in the University's most comprehensive merit-based scholarship program, in their parents' name. The $125,000 Cochrane Carolina Scholars fund will provide a $5,000 annually renewable scholarship. Carolina Scholars are students who demonstrate superior academic achievement, self-direction, intellectual curiosity and a genuine motivation for learning.

The N.C. Fellows, part of Carolina Leadership Development Program, will benefit from a $50,000 Cochrane gift. Luther and Haywood belonged to the first N.C. Fellows class at Carolina. The program promotes effective leadership and citizenship through experiential learning, training and resources.

"Luther's willingness to have Bovis participate in the project at a greatly reduced fee rate has been instrumental," said Robert Allen, Dean of the Honors Program. "His passion for quality shows in the interactions we have had with all the Bovis personnel involved in the Graham Memorial renovation project, as well as in his commitment to the Honors Program and the university as a whole."

For most of their undergraduate years, Graham Memorial was "just a place we wandered by," said Luther, who lives in Charlotte. "Interestingly, when I visited Chapel Hill after I graduated and attended functions on the main campus, I'd go past the building. It seemed to me to be a link between the generations before my time and the generations that would come after me.

"Think of all the things that have happened in Chapel Hill and how Graham Memorial was at the center of those events. The building had a wonderful past and needed a wonderful future."

"The University has been wonderful to me," Haywood said. "Since my scholarship was instrumental in providing me with what I needed to succeed in life, I liked the idea of providing an opportunity for someone else to enjoy a similar experience as a Carolina Scholar. It was also nice to be able to honor our parents who loved Carolina and recognized the importance of a good education."

"If you consider the number of opportunities any of us has to help Chapel Hill continue to be Chapel Hill, there's always going to be a match," Luther said. "Just look, and you'll find something that's very special, very personal, something that can make you feel extremely good about stretching out to give. It's just a matter of knowing what opportunities are there, and the match will come."

by Del Johnson