The Robert H. and Belle A. Tilley Endowment Fund for Academic Excellence in the North Carolina Agricultural Foundation Inc., was established by Mrs. Tilley in 1993 to honor her late husband, Robert H. Tilley, and as an expression of the couple’s devotion to N.C. State.

Graduating in 1936, Robert Tilley was a specialist in genetics and cottton breeding who worked at the N.C. Department of Agriculture Experiment Station in Statesville till 1949. He then had a career with the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture as a statistician until his retirement in 1973.

A graduate of Mitchell College in Statesville, Belle A. Tilley worked with the N.C. Department of Transportation until 1958. She and her husband operated an apple, peach and cattle farm in Durham County until his death in 1990. Mrs. Tilley died in 1998.

The bequest from Belle Tilley’s estate enhances the endowment’s support of merit-based scholarships and special programs in the College.

“The Tilleys have provided additional security to future meritorious students,” said Dr. George Barthalmus, director of Academic Programs in the College. “In addition, their gift will provide students with hands-on internships, 21st century laboratory equipment, and much more.”