Symphony Orchestra Receives $100,000 Endowment

SALISBURY, MD -- A mathematical researcher who helped develop the Internet and his wife have pledged $100,000 to the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra at Salisbury University for a symphony endowment.

"Orchestras … come and go like ships in the night," said director and founder of the SSO, Dr. Thomas G. Elliot. "What this means is the Salisbury Symphony is here to stay."

The benefactors, Dr. Peter Jackson, with his wife, Judy, a psychiatric nurse clinician, have supported symphony orchestras throughout their careers. When they retired and moved to the area earlier this year, they quickly became involved with the SSO. "I'd like to see it become the dominant regional orchestra," said Jackson. "For that it needs to bring in guest artists, allow more performances, and expand its thrust. The key is a strong endowment."

Music is a Jackson family tradition. Peter Jackson plays double bass. Their daughter, Sarah, is principal piccolo player with the Vancouver Symphony. Her husband, Clyde Mitchell, is music director and founder of the West Vancouver Symphony and music director of the Northeast Pennsylvania Symphony Orchestra (Scranton Wilkes-Barre area).

The Jacksons also have ties to the Eastern Shore. During the 1970s, his father, Dr. Roger Jackson, was a physician with the Holly Center and played viola in the SSO when it was established in 1986. Roger Jackson lived on Camden Ave. in what is now the SU Bellavance Honors Center. (Later, he retired to Dover.) Although Peter Jackson never lived in Salisbury he frequently visited his father. "I think this a delightful, beautiful area. It's quiet, there's privacy and the people are nice." The Jacksons are now building a home south of White Haven. Nearby, another daughter, Catherine Jackson, is minister at the Manokin Presbyterian Church in Princess Anne.

Peter Jackson has had a stellar career in telecommunications. He went to work for Bell Laboratories in 1967, the year he earned his doctorate in electrical engineering from Duke University. When he was just 25- years-old, his research for the U.S. Toll Telephone Network and Satellite Network reduced toll costs by an estimated $5 billion.

At Bell he helped establish the International Council for Computer Communications, modeled after the Club of Rome, a famed international think tank. Working on ARPANET for the Department of Defense, predecessor of today's Internet, Jackson developed the mathematical underpinnings for this, the first digital network. In 1972 ICCC provided the venue for the Washington conference that gave the first public demonstration of ARPANET.

Leaving Bell in 1976, he worked for a series of technological giants in increasingly senior positions including Northern Telecom, Southwestern Bell Technology Resources, DSC Communications and QUALCOMM--all on the cutting edge of telecommunications, including satellite and cellular communications research.

Strong believers in community involvement, the Jacksons are building an astronomy observatory on their home site and plan to share it with university and public school students from the area. They have made their symphony gift a challenge grant, hoping to attract more people to music.

The Jackson challenge gift, raising a potential $200,000, presents even greater promise if the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore accepts the SU Foundation Partnership, an application that includes the SSO for its Perdue Kresge Challenge for the Community. Participation in that program would mean a dollar-for-dollar match of the Jackson challenge funds, doubling the amount raised-a potential total of $400,000. The Community Foundation would then hold the funds in an endowment.

For more information on the Jackson Symphony Challenge, call 410-548-4759 or visit the SU Web site at www.salisbury.edu.