John Hubbard ’50

In the eulogy delivered for John Hubbard last August, his son-in-law, Peter Johnson, recounted Hubbard’s life and legacy: his role in the family business, his love for family, his educational record and other traits and accolades. At one point, Johnson pointed out that after leaving the family business, Hubbard started “a second career” in community service.

Career? As in, full-time work? For most of us, community service means an occasional volunteer experience, usually a one-off, something we do in our free time if we have free time. So, who could call it a career?

John Hubbard was that rare person who certainly could — his philanthropy and service to others indeed was his full-time vocation, and his passion. His ‘pay’ for this second career came in the form of gratitude from the generations of New Hampshire’s neediest children, the students, faculty and staff of his alma mater, and the residents of communities around the state who benefitted from his philanthropy over many decades.

“We are so fortunate to have the Hubbard family as part of the DNA of the University of New Hampshire,” noted Lynn Wiatrowski ’81, who honored John during the Evening of Distinction award event in June, when the 20th anniversary of the Hubbard Award for Service to Philanthropy, which recognizes outstanding donors who have helped to advance both the university and the state, was given for the 20th year.

Here at UNH, Hubbard worked tirelessly on the university’s behalf. He served as alumni chapter president, member of the National Development Committee, the Campaign for Distinction and Whittemore Center Campaign committees, and chairman of the President’s Council, a group of the university’s premier donors. He received the Alumni Meritorious Service Award in 1988 and the Profile of Service Award in 2000 for outstanding performance on behalf of the Alumni Association. He was an inaugural member of the UNH Foundation Board, started in 1989, and served on the committee of the Hubbard Award from 2001 until his passing.

Hubbard graduated from UNH in 1950 with a degree in poultry science and served in the Army from 1951 to 1953. Two years later, he married the love of his life, Carol Elizabeth Allen. She predeceased John in October 2019. He joined the family company, Hubbard Farms, where he became hatchery manager in 1962, working until August 1975.

His support of his alma mater was something of a family tradition. It all began with three brothers and their chickens. The university’s greatest benefactors — Oliver (1921), Austin (1925, and John’s father), and Leslie Hubbard (1927) — grew up in a hardworking family on a small New Hampshire farm. When they returned home after graduating from UNH, they got busy applying what they’d learned to their business.

For more than half a century they worked together, breeding the now-famous chicken known as the “New Hampshire Red” and transforming what had begun as a one-henhouse operation into a huge corporation. By 1974, when the business was acquired by pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co., Hubbard Farms had become a worldwide success, operating in more than 50 countries.

Along the way, the Hubbard family, who believed deeply in the importance of public higher education, shared the fruits of their success with a host of organizations, including their alma mater. With a series of generous gifts through the years, the family has funded both scholarships and new programs at UNH, strengthening the university’s reputation for excellence on all fronts — teaching, research and public service.

John and his beloved wife, Carol, carried on the tradition of giving. In 1998, they made a generous $1 million gift to the Dimond Library — but the gift came with a confession: “I hardly set foot in the library during my four years at UNH,” John said in a 2009 interview with UNH. “But in recent years I had been in often and had seen the poor condition of the building — especially that horrible orange carpeting! Carol and I agreed a gift to the library would help an awful lot of other people.”

That gift helped to complete the library renovation project in 1999 and provided a beautiful, peaceful setting in which to study and read. The John A. and Carol A. Hubbard Reading Room honors their support. Their philanthropy touched many other areas of the university from athletics to academic success, from international study programs to 4-H.

In 2012, he and Carol laid the foundation to support students far into the future: They created a scholarship in their names, funded by a bequest gift, for students in the College of Life Sciences and Agriculture.

The Hubbards also supported the Kurn Hattin Homes for children and the Crotched Mountain School. In 2018, they received a commendation from Governor Sununu and the state of New Hampshire for their charitable giving that has helped people throughout all of New Hampshire, particularly noting their generosity for Crotched Mountain School. In April 2022, the Monadnock Conservancy announced a $1.2 million donation through a bequest from Hubbard, the largest such gift to the Keene-based organization since it was founded in 1989.

On Aug. 2, 2021, Hubbard wanted to know how the stock market was doing and especially where Merck closed. Just a few hours later, recalls his son-in-law, he died, at the age of 93.

Johnson noted that he, his wife Susan (Hubbard’s daughter) and Hubbard’s granddaughter Rachel will continue John’s spirit and manner of philanthropy. “He was interested in bettering the lives of other people. He did things quietly, not wanting to be recognized. He helped people in desperate situations without any fanfare.”