NORTHEAST HARBOR, MAINE -- For decades, as founder and manager of the flourishing Davis New York Venture Fund, Shelby Davis was guided by two signature strategies: Look for visionary leaders and invest for the long term.
Now 68, Davis is using the same approach to advance an ambitious, new philanthropic venture, one that is transforming student enrollments and the undergraduate experience on dozens of college campuses.
Convinced that he can alter the course of international relations by sending outstanding foreign students to study with Americans, the semiretired fund manager has quietly built one of the largest privately funded scholarship programs in the United States.
This fall, Davis's United World College Scholars Program will meet the full financial need of almost 700 college students from 100 countries, at 58 campuses from Maine to California.