The Tribune

By RICARDO WELLS

Tribune Staff Reporter

rwells@tribunemedia.net

LOCAL psychiatrist Dr David Allen yesterday credited the John Templeton Foundation for its assistance in the growth and development of his practice.

Reacting to news of the passing of the foundation’s president and chairman, Dr John M Templeton Jr, Dr Allen said that the foundation “made a tremendous contribution to the Bahamas both directly and indirectly”.

Dr Allen explained that the work made possible by grants from the foundation has in turn gone on to better the Bahamian society.

Dr Templeton, known as “Jack”, retired from his medical practice in 1995 to manage the foundation created in 1987 by his billionaire father, Sir John Templeton, who was considered one of the world’s leading philanthropists.

In 2012, the Templeton World Charity Foundation (TWCF) approved a grant of $32,800 to support a family healing initiative led by Dr Allen.

In addition, a $10,000 donation was also committed by TWCF to Dr Allen and the initiative as a planning grant to assist with the development of the wider research project on improving socialisation in the Bahamian community.

Dr Allen said the grants made his practice possible. He added that because of the Templeton Foundation, more specifically the Templeton World Charity, the study perfected here has gone worldwide.

He stated that in the infancy stages of his programme, he could only assist around 30 people. As a result of the TWCF donations, presently, The Family: People Helping People initiative now counsels more than 400 Bahamians, an estimated 40 families.

Dr Allen said that when given the original grant by the organisation, he was tasked with extending his programme, developing the research models used and expanding the programme’s core training concepts.

“Those were the three things that we had to get done and with their assistance our programme has grown,” he said.

The TWCF also made a significant donation to the Pompey Museum’s rebirth following a 2011 fire that left the museum in ruins.

A Templeton grant in the amount of $380,000, disbursed over a two-year period, aided in the creation of the “Struggle to be Free” exhibition and helped boost the institution’s education programme.

The Templeton Foundation serves as a philanthropic catalyst for discoveries on what scientists and philosophers call the big questions of human purpose and ultimate reality, a vision derived from Sir John’s optimism about the possibility of acquiring “new spiritual information” and from his commitment to rigorous scientific research and related scholarship.

Dr Templeton was born on February 19, 1940, in New York City, the eldest of Sir John’s three children.

He died at his Pennsylvania home on May 16 of cancer, according to his daughter. He was 75 years old.