Paul A. Saxton '60 is grateful to Wabash for giving him a second chance at
college.
Saxton would later go on to a successful business career, retiring as
chairman and CEO of General Housewares in Terre Haute. But at the time, he
had been kicked out of Williams College in Massachusetts for poor grades.
Several state schools in Ohio turned him down.
One Williams classmate was a Crawfordsville native. "He said, 'There's this
great school in my hometown,'" Saxton remembered. The classmate's father
talked to Wabash's dean of admissions, and Saxton was soon enrolled.
The English major initially didn't think much of Wabash. But he pledged the
Sigma Chi fraternity and "I felt wanted right away. I soon had an
appreciation for the academic rigors of Wabash."
After graduating, Saxton hoped to become an English professor. He was
working on a Ph.D. at Ohio State University when most of the English
department quit during a controversy over banning certain speakers on
campus. Without money and advisors needed to complete his doctorate, he got
a publishing job in Columbus.
Saxton later successfully championed the Oskar food processor and rose to
vice president for sales and marketing at the Sunbeam Appliance Company. In
1987 General Housewares founder John H. Muller, Jr., recruited him as his
replacement at the maker of cookware and cutlery.
Since retiring in 1999, Saxton and his wife Kathleen divide their time
between Chicago and Florida. The former Wabash history minor is writing an
extensive family history, which he has traced back to the last Crusade
(1271-1272).
Saxton used his profits from selling General Housewares to invest in
long-term municipal bonds, which were paying at an all-time-high interest
rate then. Since then, their rate has declined, and if they were sold they
would be subject to capital-gain tax.
In December, Saxton used one bond to fund a charitable gift annuity with
Wabash that will provide the couple fixed annual payments for life at a
higher rate than will the bonds. "It's the best deal around," he said.
Saxton encourages other alumni to support Wabash. "It's a great place that
provides a lot of financial aid to kids who might not get into college
otherwise," he said. "Wabash has stayed true to its values. That's
remarkable."