July 26, 2005

I have informed the chairman of the University's board of trustees that I shall leave the University of Chicago and become the President of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation on July 1, 2006. This has been a very difficult decision that I never expected to need to make. As I have so often said, and as I hope you all believe, I love The University of Chicago, and I love the city of Chicago. This is the one university that represents most perfectly what I believe universities should be. And I really do believe that Chicago is the greatest city in America. At the same time, the Mellon Foundation represents, uniquely among the major foundations, the very values and fields of interest that I have tried to serve throughout my entire professional life. Its values are very closely aligned with those of the University, and it has been very generous to us. To join the foundation will be to promote those values in institutions across the country and abroad.

I have thought long and hard about all of you who make the institution what it is. And I have thought a great deal about the many trustees, alumni, and friends of the University for whom I have not only respect but genuine affection. But my wife, Carol, and I concluded this past weekend, after much discussion, that I should leave the University and join the Mellon Foundation.

There remains a year in which we can still together accomplish a great deal for this great university. I look forward to that. And I look forward to remaining forever devoted to this university and grateful to you for what you do daily to make this university the extraordinary institution that it is.

Yours sincerely,
Don M. Randel