Ending a long legal battle over how closely an institution must adhere to the terms of a gift, Princeton University in Princeton, N.J., has reached a settlement with heirs to the A&P grocery fortune that allows the school to keep the bulk of a fund worth hundreds of millions of dollars. In 1961, A&P grocery heirs Charles and Marie Robertson gave Princeton a $35 million gift endowment and directed that the money be used to educate graduate students for careers in government. The Robertsons’ descendants contended in a 2002 lawsuit that Princeton was misusing the gift, which peaked in value at more than $900 million in June, spending it on training students for a broader range of careers. Under the settlement, Princeton will pay $40 million in legal fees, and, starting in 2012, another $50 million, plus interest, to a new foundation that will support education for government service.
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