An eccentric Florida professor arranged for her secret fortune to be divided up among her favorite students in a shocking post-mortem act of generosity.
Cris Hassold, a former professor at the New College in Sarasota, Florida, mailed 31 graduates a mysterious package more than a year after she died at 89.
Hassold was described as an unapologetically unconventional woman who was full of surprises.
And when she died in July 2020, the quirky educator had one final trick up her sleeve – distributing most of her $2.8 million estate among the students she loved the most.
Nicole Archer, now a professor at Montclair State University in New Jersey, was rendered speechless when she learned Hassold left her $100,000 in August 2021.
‘I truly, honestly believed that I read it wrong,’ Archer told The New York Times.
‘I remember following the number with my finger, making sure I understood how many zeros it was.’
Archer, 49, said she knew Hassold had planned on leaving her something, but she assumed that meant a beaded bracelet or enough cash to foot the bill at dinner.
Thirty-one graduates from the New College of Florida were floored when they received a mysterious package from their former professor, Cris Hassold (middle), over a year after she died at 89
Nicole Archer (pictured), now a professor at Montclair State University in New Jersey , was rendered speechless when she learned Hassold left her $100,000 in August 2021
As stunned as she was opening up the letter about Hassold’s gift, dozens of other people were just as surprised.
Hassold had chosen 36 people – 31 of which were old students of hers – to leave her money too, as she hardly had any family, the NYT reported.
The amount she offered up varied depending on how close she was with a particular student and how much she believed they needed.
Documents shared by the executor of her estate revealed she gave away payments ranging from $26,000 to $560,000.
‘She wanted to give as much away as she could,’ Ryan White, who was in Hassold’s class in 2003, said he realized when he received about $26,000 from her.
The 45-year-old stayed in touch with Hassold long after college, mowing her unruly ‘nightmare’ of a lawn and sorting through her disorderly home.
Katie Helms, 47, who graduated from New College in 2003, also was allocated $26,000 from Hassold.
The money helped soften the financial blow of a surgery she had to have.
Hassold developed close ties with her students, who got to know her inside and outside of the classroom.
Hassold taught at the historically liberal New College in Sarasota, Florida (pictured) for 50 years
With hardly any family of her own, she ‘adopted’ the young adults in her classes, who welcomed her attention and affection with open arms.
Hassold (pictured) died in July 2020 after she fell while recovering from a stroke she had months before (photo credit: legacy.com)
They had even taken on errands of the frugal elderly woman, whose home was cluttered and hoardered.
‘She didn’t have a family, but we were her family,’ White told the Times. ‘She adopted us, and we adopted her.’
Hassold spent 50 years teaching art history at the famously liberal college, challenging her students with heaps of homework and dense reading materials.
Andrea Bailey, 47, the director of the nonprofit organization American Women Artists, recalled a time she was humbled by the brutally honest educator over an analysis of a van Gogh painting.
‘Her conclusion that the woman in “The Straw Hat” is an aristocrat is simply wrong,’ Hassold reportedly wrote on Bailey’s academic file in 1995.
‘I do not understand how she could have read about the works and gotten it so muddled.’
Katie Helms (pictured), 47, who graduated from New College in 2003, also was allocated $26,000 from Hassold
Andrea Bailey (pictured), 47, the director of the nonprofit organization American Women Artists, recalled a time she was humbled by the brutally honest educator over an analysis of a van Gogh painting
But beyond her harsh exterior was a kind and nurturing educator who valued the aspirations of her students.
‘I’ll never get the kind of acknowledgment from my parents that I got from her,’ Helms told the Times while choking up. ‘I think about her almost every day.’
Hassold retired in 2016 when she was 85 years old. Four years later, she had a stroke and collapsed in a grocery store.
While recovering from this medical emergency, White organized a GoFundMe to raise money to send her flowers every few weeks.
But as she was recovering, she took a critical fall that left her needing hospice care. She died shortly after that.
