WPI asked in suit to stop spending $40M+ in donations

Courtesy/WPI A rendering of the Foisie Innovation Studio and Residence Hall at WPI.

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By Grant Welker

Worcester Polytechnic Institute is being sued by the ex-wife of the largest donor in the school's history, and was asked to stop spending more than $40 million he gave for the business school, scholarships and its new innovation center.

Janet Foisie argues her ex-husband, Robert Foisie, hid millions of dollars of assets from her in an offshore account and, once they divorced, transferred that money to the college, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court.

WPI's business school is named after Foisie, as is a $49-million classroom and dorm being built in the center of campus.

Janet Foisie is requesting a ruling that would order WPI to stop spending any money it received from her husband since 2011 -- a sum that would include $40 million he donated to WPI for scholarships in 2014. In all, Foisie has donated $63 million to the school, the most it has received from any single donor in its history.

She is requesting a receiver take control of those funds.

“The Foisies have been generous donors to WPI, and hundreds of students have benefited from their philanthropy over the years," WPI said in a statement. "We have no knowledge of any of the improper conduct alleged in the lawsuit. We hope the Foisies are able to work out their differences.”

The couple decided in 2010 to divorce after 50 years of marriage, according to the lawsuit. They had agreed during the divorce process to divide their assets equally, Janet Foisie said, alleging her ex-husband lied about having no offshore bank accounts. She says in the lawsuit he hid about $4.5 million in an account in Switzerland, money that has since been transferred to WPI.

"Robert's lies and omitted disclosures caused Janet to come to an incorrect conclusion about the amount of assets at issue in a dissolution of the Foisies' marriage," the lawsuit says.

WPI received a court summons on Monday, after the case was filed in U.S. District Court last week.

Robert Foisie is a 1956 WPI graduate who received scholarships as a student. He graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering before earning a master's at Cornell University. He later founded and served as president of Matik North America, a Connecticut import, distribution and service firm, according to WPI. He also owned a Swiss company that makes packaging machinery.

Foisie, who couldn't be reached for comment Tuesday, is not named as a party in the lawsuit. Janet Foisie now lives in Florida, according to the lawsuit.

The 78,000 square-foot Foisie Innovation Studio and Residence Hall is slated to open in the fall of 2018 on the site of the former Alumni Gymnasium.