Mel Rines ’47 Makes $1M Gift to Bolster Key Priority in UNH Strategic Plan

Mel Rines ’47 (seated) recently made a $1M gift to UNH.

Mel Rines ’47 recently made his largest one-time gift ever to UNH, a $1 million contribution that will impact students from a wide swath of disciplines and academic areas while advancing a key pillar of President Elizabeth Chilton’s strategic plan for the university.

Rines – who is among the university’s most generous benefactors – recently made the gift to bolster Chilton’s focus on interdisciplinary education and research excellence, support that will help advance one of four strategic priorities in Chilton’s “One UNH: Roadmap to 2030” initiative and is also a seamless match for Rines’ personal philosophy. 

“Be bold, aim high, and have fun” is a favorite motto of Rines, who graduated from UNH as a psychology major and U.S. Naval fighter pilot before ultimately spending his career in the investment business. He had lofty goals from the start, with a desire for independence and helping mankind, and was guided by a personal mantra – “success on my terms.” So, it’s only fitting that his latest gift lands at the intersection of flexibility and innovation at UNH. 

It is the largest contribution to UNH for Rines, who has donated steadily since his initial support in 1982, extending a deep relationship with the university that began during his days as a student.

Rines’ tenure at UNH was interrupted when he joined the Navy and trained as a fighter pilot during World War II. After graduating from UNH, he went on to study optometry and joined a Naval reserve fighter squadron. That squadron was the first to be recalled at the start of the Korean War in 1950 where he flew the first jets in active combat off the aircraft carrier USS Boxer. 

His years traveling and meeting others as a U.S. Navy fighter pilot broadened his thinking about career opportunities. Leaving the Navy, Rines passed on an opportunity to pilot commercial airplanes, embarking instead on a new challenge, a career in the investment world. 

Rines, now 102, went on to carve out a successful and fulfilling 46-year career beginning as a retail broker, culminating in international investment banking with the firm that first employed him, Kidder Peabody. He worked closely with the development banks and the International Monetary Fund to help developing nations access international credit markets to help fuel their infrastructure projects and economic development. 

Rines first reconnected with UNH in 1982 by seeding and co-directing the International Private Enterprise Center at the Whittemore School of Business and Economics, now Paul College.  

“UNH has always been dear to me,” Rines says. “I’ve always been so fond of the professors and the students.”

Rines’ previous giving also focused on university-wide opportunities. His gifts led to the creation of offerings like the Rines Student Angel Investment Fund and the International Changemakers Grant (formally Student International Service Initiative) – programs that encourage involvement from students from all majors.

“My father wanted to create innovative programs that would go across departments of the university,” his daughter, Marcy Venezia, says. “You see that with the Rines Angel Fund where you don’t have to be a business major to become a part of it.”

Mel Rines ’47.

Indeed, the Rines Angel Fund – a hands-on program that immerses students in the realm of early-stage investing – is housed within the Peter T. Paul College of Business and Economics, but participation is encouraged across all majors. Similarly, the International Changemaker Grant, which allows students to travel globally and work on sustainability projects that establish relationships with international communities of need, is open to UNH students from any college.

The Rines Angel Fund gives students real-world experience within the angel fund ecosystem and the International Changemaker Grant gives them a chance to contribute to significant sustainability work while traveling to areas of the world they may not otherwise get to see. David Rines, Mel’s son, says one of the goals of the changemaker grant was “for students who might not have left New Hampshire before to have an opportunity to do something really meaningful outside the US.”

“I think both the Rines Angel Fund and the International Changemaker Grant are about giving students real-world experience outside the classroom that make a real difference in terms of their career opportunities. It’s so gratifying to feel like these students have opportunities that I didn’t see growing up,” says David Rines.

Adds Venezia, “It was that emphasis on moving away from just straight academics into real-world experience that always resonated with my father.” 

Rines’ focus through it all has been to create as many opportunities as possible for UNH students. He and his family have been able to witness up-close how much of an impact the Rines Angel Fund and International Changemaker Grant have had in terms of opening real-world career opportunities to students.

So, it’s no wonder Rines became immediately intrigued after hearing about President Chilton’s Roadmap to 2030 priorities. In November of 2025, The Rines family hosted Chilton and learned more about her vision, a meeting that ultimately inspired the $1 million commitment to advance the interdisciplinary education and research effort.

“It was gratifying to hear about all the work that was already underway on the Roadmap and this gift felt like something that would further support President Chilton and her initiatives while also being in line with my father’s interest in innovation and interdisciplinary learning,” says David Rines. “We’re excited to see where this can go.”

Rines’ UNH affection runs deep. He has been a dedicated volunteer at UNH for more than two decades, is a former chair of the UNH Foundation Board, and currently serves on the emeriti board, the Rines Student Angel Investment Fund investment committee, and the International Changemakers Grant committee. 

Beyond The Rines Angel Fund and the International Changemaker Grant, Rines’ generosity has led to the establishment of several additional funds, including the S. Melvin and Mary Jo Rines Art Exhibit Fund and the Mel Rines ’47 Fellowship Fund. Mel and his wife, Mary Jo Rines, were honored in 2007 with UNH’s Hubbard Family Award for Service to Philanthropy, the highest honor bestowed upon those whose philanthropic leadership has strengthened the state, its communities, and the university.

Through all of that, David Rines and his sister have long witnessed their father’s commitment to both people-centered philanthropy and his alma mater. His legacy at UNH was cemented long before this most recent gift, but the contribution to interdisciplinary education and research excellence is yet another illustration of that combination that will carry forward for years to come. 

Venezia says, “My father is not one to say, ‘I did that.’ He’s not a showman in that way. He always quietly encourages the people around him, and he’s done that with us, and he’s doing that now with his ideas about philanthropy.”