Philanthropy & Partnerships

After waiting for five years, Worcester Academy in Massachusetts has received the money from a surprise bequest of $9.5 million from a former student who attended the school nearly 80 years ago.

Jacques C. LeBermuth—a student at the private secondary school in Worcester, 50 miles west of Boston, in the early 1920s—was offered free tuition and board when his family could no longer afford to pay for his education.

Mr. LeBermuth died in December 1996 at the age of 89, but because of delays in clearing the bequest through the Internal Revenue Service, his estate was only recently settled, according to Neil R. Isakson, the...