Ray Charles makes college donation

Ray Charles makes college donation

Ray Charles donated $1 million to Albany State University for the Ray Charles Foundation on Wednesday. The check, given in honor of his mother, Aretha Robinson, is the first installment of Charles’ $2 million pledge, college president Portia H. Shields told the Associated Press.

Joe Adams, Charles’ manager, presented the check to the university during a visit, and said Albany had changed a lot from what Charles remembers from his childhood. “Ray remembers Albany as a place with a general store where you had to go to make a telephone call,” Adams said. The $2 million pledge is expected to culminate by the end of the year.