Dr. Richard Arnonld Packwood

Somerset physician and philanthropist Dr. Richard Packwood was the first major benefactor of The Berkeley Institute.

He and his wife Mary also left their residence Bridge Lodge, now known as Packwood Home, to be used as a home for the elderly.

He had inherited substantial property holdings from his father who 12 years after Emancipation was able to purchase two large tracts of land at Ferry Reach, St. George’s.

Richard Packwood willed the property in 1924 to the school’s parent body, the Berkeley Educational Society.

The Ferry Reach property was sold and the funds put in trust. They were used to pay the tuition of deserving Berkeley students and provided university scholarships for Berkeley graduates.