Lemuel Towers Appold (1862-1935)

Lemuel Towers Appold was born in Baltimore, Maryland on January 27, 1862 to leather merchant Samuel Appold and his wife Susan. Following schooling at the Stewart Hall in Baltimore, he matriculated at Dickinson College and graduated with the class of 1882. During his time at the College, he was a member of Beta Theta Pi and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. Following graduation, he studied law at the University of Maryland and was admitted to the Maryland bar in 1885.

He served successfully as vice president of the Colonial Trust Company Bank in Baltimore between 1900 and 1935, and then as vice president and director of Provident Savings Bank. With the money earned from these positions, he supported the arts in Baltimore and gave generously to area museums.

In 1917 Appold became a member of the Board of Trustees and remained so until his death. In 1923, he was named president of the revived Dickinson Alumni Association and saw to it that the new incarnation would be more successful and active than in the past. He remained in this post for six years, founding and funding the Dickinson Alumnus magazine and the General Alumni Association.

In addition to reviving the Alumni Association, Appold donated money for the expansion and improvement of the college campus, including $25,000 for the remodeling of West College. These renovations included the conversion of the chapel to Memorial Hall, as well as the construction of a large meeting room honoring James Andrew McCauley, President while Appold was a student. Appold made an opening subscription of $25,000 for the construction of the Alumni Gymnasium. He also provided $10,000 towards the purchase of Mooreland, the estate that now comprises the Rush Campus.

Appold never married and remained in the Baltimore area for most of his life. He became ill with heart disease in June 1935 and died at home on August 30. In his will, Appold left one half of his estate, which was valued at more than $375,000, to the College, perhaps the largest single donation in the history of the institution.