Mercatus Center receives $1 million donation

The Mercatus Center at George Mason University has received a generous donation (photo courtesy of Creative Commons).

George Mason University’s Mercatus Center has received a generous donation in the spirit of capitalism and the American Dream.

The donation of  $ 1 million, made in December 2012 by former Virginia resident Nelson Getchell, will support the center’s research on free markets and capitalism

A native of Massachusetts, Getchell has lived a rich and varied life.

According to a statement issued by the Mercatus Center, Getchell, a self-labeled “outdoorsman,” is a former textile engineer. While working with the National Cotton Council and the USDA Agricultural Research Service, he developed several patents, including one that insures the permanent crease in cotton pants after washing.

Getchell never attended nor worked at Mason, making him an unlikely candidate for donating money to the school. However, Getchell and his wife, Martha, lived in Great Falls, Virginia for almost 40 years before moving to South Carolina. Great Falls, located in northern Virginia, is a 30 minute drive away from Mason’s Fairfax campus, and is the site of the Getchells’ entrepreneurial endeavor.

While living in Northern Virginia, Getchell and his wife, Martha, opened an art and antique store called the Village Gallery. Hoping to turn the Village Gallery into a franchise, they opened another location in nearby McLean, Virginia. During the 20 years they ran the gallery, the Getchells developed a sharp, entrepreneurial instinct for buying, pricing and selling artwork and antiques.

 “Capitalism is the reason why I, a hardworking outdoorsman from Massachusetts and my wife, an elementary school teacher from Maine, have lived lives of freedom and prosperity,” Getchell said in a statement released by the Mercatus Center.

The Mercatus Center, located in Arlington, Virginia, conducts research on how free markets operate and how those markets can improve people’s lives. The center supports graduate studies and research in the field of economics while also seeking to apply economics to offer solutions to society’s most pressing problems.

Getchell’s donation, made in honor of his late wife, will establish the Martha and Nelson Getchell Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism. Donald J. Boudreaux, former chairman of the department of economics at Mason, has been selected for this position in recognition of his work in advancing the understanding of free market capitalism.

Apart from establishing the Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism, the Mercatus Center did not release information on how else Getchell’s donation will be used.