A Rhode Island philanthropist and the former director of the Heller School's Center on Hunger and Poverty reached a settlement in July after a three-year legal dispute over the center's naming rights and funding.Alan Shawn Feinstein-the founder of the Feinstein Foundation, which donates millions of dollars to Rhode Island schools and other American hunger-fighting institutions-accused J. Larry Brown of breaching a contract by keeping Feinstein from tagging his name on the center's title, in a lawsuit filed in a Rhode Island District Court in August 2003.

Brown filed a countersuit the following month alleging that Feinstein backed out of his promise to donate $3 million to the center.

Brown originally founded the Center for Hunger and Poverty at Tufts University. The center relocated to the Heller School for Social Policy and Management in July 2000.

The contract between the two men-signed in March 2000 before Brown moved the Center from Tufts-originally stipulated that Feinstein would commit the $3 million and have naming rights to the Center, according to an article in the Providence Journal published in May.

Feinstein's lawyers told the Journal that Brown's move to Brandeis had breached the contract. The University requires a $5 million minimum contribution to secure permanent naming rights, a policy which left Feinstein $2 million dollars short.

Lawyers for Brown said in the same Journal article that Feinstein had given only $7,000 to the center.

Brown could not be reached for comment.

Reached at the offices of his foundation, Feinstein refused to disclose the details of the settlement, saying only, "Larry Brown apologized to me, and I'm not at liberty to say anything else."

Brown left Brandeis last Spring, Heller Dean Stuart Altman said. University officials declined to comment on the circumstances of his departure, and the position has not yet been filled.

In his lawsuit, Feinstein also accused Brown of defamation, a claim that was thrown out in May by U.S. District Court Judge William Smith.

Feinstein told the Providence Journal he felt having his name on the center would encourage more people to donate to its cause.

"Anonymous donations encourage no one," Feinstein told the Journal. "If you make a donation and a name is not connected with it, people are not going to be moved to give a donation, but if it's someone they know and like who gave money, then they may be moved to give money, too. So modesty does not always work well when it comes to charity."

Feinstein's name appears on several institutions in Rhode Island, including schools at Johnson and Wales University, Roger Williams University, Rhode Island College and the University of Rhode Island.