The Amelia I. and Robert J. Frost, M.D., General Endowment was established in 1992 by Robert J. Frost (’40) and his wife, Amelia. A retired pathologist, Robert earned his medical degree is from Georgetown University and then joined the Army in 1945. He later completed his training in pathology at the South Bend Medical Foundation. He became director of laboratories at hospitals in southwestern Michigan and northwest Indiana, eventually founding Pathology Consultants, Inc. Robert and Amelia reside in Michigan City, Indiana, and have two children: Robert and Patricia.

The Hesburgh Libraries are frequently confronted with special opportunities in collection development that budgetary limitations might force them to abandon. The Frost Endowment allows the libraries to acquire costly publications and selected reference sources and materials in new areas of teaching and research in the humanities and social sciences. Additionally, the endowment enables the Hesburgh Libraries to acquire retrospective materials in these fields as they appear on the antiquarian market. Recently, the libraries have used the Frost Endowment to purchase the online versions of many encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, and other tools.