Legacy of Giving A Snapshot of the Immeasurable Impact of Judge Richard Bray and the Beazley Foundation
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n June, after 19 years as the president and CEO of the Beazley Foundation, Inc., Judge Richard S. Bray stepped down from the Portsmouth-based charitable organization that has touched the lives of millions in Hampton Roads since its founding in 1948.
foundation set up by my good friend and benefactor Fred Beazley and has carried the Beazley Foundation onto new heights,” Dr. Robertson said. “I wish the best for Judge Bray in the years to come and that he will have a rewarding and blessed retirement.”
Throughout his tenure, Judge Bray, a Portsmouth native who served on the Virginia Court of Appeals, embodied the spirit of a servant-leader as he oversaw the distribution of grants to vital organizations in support of young people, education, housing, healthcare, and recreation.
Over the past 15 years, the Beazley Foundation and Judge Bray have bestowed grants to Regent University that have had an immediate and lasting impact. Two notable examples are the IBM Cognos Data Analytics System that enabled university operations to run more efficiently and the construction of our much-needed Chapel and Divinity School.
The Beazley Foundation was created by the late Fred W. Beazley, a Portsmouth native and a larger-than-life character who began his illustrious career selling coal and oil door-todoor. His hard work paid off, and he earned a fortune, only to lose it during the Great Depression. Undeterred, Beazley started over in Atlanta, where he rebuilt his wealth. He then returned to his hometown to focus on philanthropy directed to the community’s needs at large. Today, the privately endowed foundation manages $60 million in assets. Dr. M.G. “Pat” Robertson, founder, chancellor & CEO of Regent University, enjoyed a special relationship with Beazley, who was a close friend of his father. In the early 1960s, as Dr. Robertson worked to get his broadcast ministry off the ground, Beazley provided him with a $100-week stipend and allowed his family to live in a house on the campus of what was then Frederick College. This location was later bequeathed to the state and became the Portsmouth Campus of Tidewater Community College. “Judge Bray has been a dear friend of Regent over the years. He has taken charge of the 10
Shaw Chapel is a centerpiece of campus life and a place of worship, celebration and community. It transformed the Regent campus, helping to create an even more vibrant academic and Christ-centered atmosphere. “The generosity of the Beazley Foundation helped make it possible for our students to study and worship together in beautiful, stateof-the-art buildings. Each of the students assisted will, in turn, minister to countless people as they proclaim the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,” said Corné J. Bekker, D. Litt. et Phil., dean of the School of Divinity. The Beazley Foundation, under Judge Bray’s leadership, has provided more than $680,000 in grants that, in addition to making a physical imprint on the university, have improved the curriculum and offered life-changing scholarships to students. The Beazley Foundation’s American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) grant enabled the university to strengthen its General Education curriculum, specifically
