The taste for adventure begins early, as any parent can tell you. Some pretty rousing tales spring from the mind of a youngster left alone with a few simple props and a vivid imagination.
For most of us, real adventure begins only when we leave the security of home and school behind to launch our professional careers. Many IT alumni spend those first years after graduation as employees, gaining knowledge and experience, and then forge a new path by starting their own companies.
Entrepreneurship is an exhilarating, often risky adventure, but it has great appeal for IT alumni. Twelve years ago the college’s Founders Project identified more than 1,000 alumni who had established their own companies. Over the past decade we’ve added many more names to that list, which continues to grow every year.
During this same period the University launched Campaign Minnesota, the most ambitious fundraising effort in its history. As the campaign nears its end, we’ve noticed an interesting phenomenon. IT’s founders’ list and the roster of campaign donors include many of the same names: individuals who took the less-traveled road and returned to share their blessings.
Alumnus Darrell Rinerson’s story, recounted in
this issue, offers a powerful example. His incredible
career, which began here in Minnesota with Univac, flourished
in Silicon Valley during the semiconductor revolution.
His planned bequest of $30 million—the largest
in University history—expresses great affection
for his alma mater and for the physics department and
electrical and computer engineering department, where
his journey began.
His story is not unique. Lee Johnson, Bob Wahlstedt, and Dale Merrick started Reell Precision Manufacturing, and all three created charitable remainder trusts with IT as a remainder beneficiary. Lee and his wife, Betty, donated additional funds to the new Mechanical Engineering Building, and he served as a member of IT’s campaign steering committee.
The late Lee Whitson founded WR Medical Electronics after working at 3M and as an industrial engineering teacher. Lee’s legacy will create our largest scholarship fund, allowing the mechanical engineering department to offer competitive fellowships to the top students applying to its graduate program.
Civil engineering alumni Otto Bonestroo and Bob Rosene, founders of the well-known engineering consulting firm Bonestroo, Rosene, Anderlik & Associates, are extraordinary friends of IT who have volunteered their time, talent, and treasure. Bob has served as IT Alumni Society president, and both men have created and contributed to endowed scholarships, fellowships, professorships, faculty recognition, and equipment funds.
Art Schwalm worked with Medtronic until he started Cardiac Pacemakers and American Medical Electronics. He and his wife, Nancy, have pledged a generous gift to support scholarships. I could fill this entire magazine with similar examples.
The common thread in all these stories involves a journey to personal success that begins in IT and comes full circle back to its origins. The creative philanthropy of our founder/donors ensures that future generations of our alumni will venture forth to establish new companies, advance science and technology, and serve the greater community.
It’s a timeless story that never loses its magic, and we are all the better for it.
PHIL OSWALD is director of development for the Institute of Technology. You can reach him at 612-626-9385.
