Western Connecticut State University has received a $1 million donation from a local CEO.  Farooq Kathwari of Ethan Allen Interiors, and his wife, Farida, gave the gift to create an endowment that will support the University’s Honors Program. 

Western President Dr James Schmotter says the program will be renamed the Kathwari Honors Program.  The building that will house the program, formerly Alumni Hall, will be named the Irfan Kathwari Honors House, in memory of the Kathwaris’ son.  Alumni functions, along with development, communications and related departments, will be relocated to another building on campus.

Kathwari said he decided to support WCSU with this gift in part because Ethan Allen has been involved with the university ever since Nathan Ancell moved the company headquarters to Danbury in 1972. The Ancell School of Business is named for the former Ethan Allen CEO.

The Board of Regents for Higher Education acknowledged the gift and approved renaming the program the Kathwari Honors Program.  The Honors Program serves more than 200 high-performing students with extra instruction and service opportunities. With this gift, the program is expected to grow to 500 students.

A celebration of the gift and a building dedication is planned for the spring.

Kathwari emigrated to the United States at age 21 to attend graduate school, at night, at New York University, where he earned his MBA.  While working on Wall Street for Rothschild Inc., where he became CFO at the age of 27, he met Ancell, and they agreed Kathwari would join Ethan Allen, which today has annual sales exceeding $750 million.

Kathwari is a member of the WCSU Foundation Board of Directors.  His first gift to the university in the 1990s was put to use to help students who intended to teach in inner-city schools.