On Wednesday the College announced that the new building that will house the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum will be named the John and Lile Gibbons Center for Arctic Studies in honor of trustee emeritus John A Gibbons Jr. ’64, P’88, P’93, P’96, P’03 and Lile Gibbons P’88, P’93, P’96, P’03. The College started construction on the 16,426 square-foot building designed by HGA Architects on Monday.

The Gibbons Center for Arctic Studies will be located across from the Roux Center for the Environment and will house galleries for the numerous journals, photographs and other artifacts displayed in the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum, which is currently located on the first floor of Hubbard Hall. The Gibbons Center for Arctic Studies will also include teaching and laboratory spaces.

Residing in Old Greenwich Conn., John Gibbons is the owner and managing partner of investment management firm Odin Partners, based in New York City. After he graduated from Bowdoin in 1964 as a government major, he went on to earn an MBA at New York University. Since graduating, he has stayed involved with the College, serving as a class agent, campaign volunteer and Alumni Council representative. He also served on the Board of Trustees from 2002 to 2017, and from 2003 to 2006 he chaired the Board of Trustees Information Technology Advisory Committee.

Lile Gibbons is a graduate of Smith College, where she now serves on the Board of Trustees. She represented District 150 in the Connecticut General Assembly from 2001 to 2013 and has also served on the Greenwich Board of Education, chairing it from 1997 to 2000.

The Gibbonses have long supported Bowdoin’s Arctic Studies program. In 2005, the two established the Gibbons Arctic Studies Fund, which supports the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum. In addition to supporting the Arctic Museum and its programming, the Gibbonses have created the Gibbons Summer Research Internship Fund and the Gibbons Family Scholarship, and they also support the Bowdoin College Museum of Art and other College funds.