Princeton settles donor lawsuit

PRINCETON, N.J., Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Princeton University has settled a lawsuit with the family of one of its biggest donors, the school said.

The settlement with the Robertson family, heirs to the A&P supermarket fortune, allows the university to maintain control of an endowment recently valued at $900 million, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

The newspaper reported the Robertson family had given the university $35 million in 1961. They complained the school failed to use the money to train graduate students at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs to serve in the federal government.

The family sued in 2002 to take the endowment from the university and use the money elsewhere, the Journal reported.

Under the settlement, the university said it would also take $50 million from the Robertsons' endowment and place it in a new foundation designated by the Robertson family. The money, to be paid over seven years, would be used to prepare students for careers in government service.

The university also said it would, over a three-year period, repay the $40 million in legal fees the Robertsons spent on the lawsuit.