Scotts donate $2.5 million to College of Business
Published March 2, 2007
A $2.5 million estate gift donated to the College of Business raised the total of the For All We Call Mizzou campaign to $768 million. MU alumni Tom and Betty Scott, who have made multiple financial contributions to the university since both graduated in 1958, donated the gift.
The Scotts' contribution to the college was announced Thursday, during an afternoon reception at the Reynolds Alumni Center.
"Education is the keystone to success in America, and it is also the foundation," Tom Scott said. "Without the support of education, it could not and would not succeed. We want to leave something to continue for many years to come."
The Scotts' estate gift will be allocated to three areas within the college, said Bruce Walker, dean of the College of Business.
The first area establishes the Tom and Betty Scott Fund for Excellence, which is an endowment used to advance the strategic priorities of the university at a given time, Walker said.
Second, the estate gift establishes a professorship in risk management within the business school, which will be named after the Scotts.
The third area continues to fund the College of Business CEO Forum.
"The CEO Forum, underwritten by the Scotts, brings top executives who are not alumni to campus," Walker said.
This year's CEO forum, held Wednesday, brought numerous CEOs to campus, including Jack Stack, CEO of SRC Holdings Inc.
"We want to get them to think about mutually beneficial processes, like hiring our graduates," Walker said.
But the Scotts' relationship with the university is not strictly financial, as their relationships with leaders within the university show.
Chancellor Brady Deaton spoke about his opportunity to have lunch with the Scotts, as well as the personal relationship he and his wife Anne have cultivated with them.
"They have offered their hospitality to us in so many ways," Deaton said. "It is a tremendous investment for us and for future generations."
In her speech at the gift announcement, Betty Scott quoted an old adage "behind every good man is a good woman," but added a new take on it.
"Or, maybe its 'behind every good woman is a good man,'" Betty Scott said.
She talked about her relationship with her husband and the great pleasure they share in giving the estate gift to the business college.
"Things are solved overtly and by time," Betty said. "Time can translate into hard work."
Hard work is something that has characterized the Scotts' relationship with the university, according to both Betty and Tom.
The couple undertook multiple professional endeavors, including operating a chain of dry cleaning establishments, miniature golf courses and dairy farming.
The couple donated a $2 million gift to the College of Veterinary Medicine in January, which was put in an excellence fund to be used at the discretion of the college's dean.
The Scott's love of animals is not only demonstrated through their philanthropy at the university level. They also support local organizations at home in the Kansas City metropolitan area.
The couple also owns two toy poodles, Rags and Nicole.
When David Housh, Vice Chancellor for Development and Alumni Relations, presented the Scotts with gifts at the end of the announcement ceremony, he presented an additional gift for Rags and Nicole — who were referred to as the Scott's "kids."