A Major Gift with Lasting Results
After a stellar business career
spanning more than six
decades and wide acclaim,
Henry Tippie continues to hold eastern
Iowa high in his mind and heart.
That was made most evident again
on May 30, as Kirkwood Community
College announced a $1 million
gift from the Belle Plaine native and
his wife Patricia. The donation will
establish an endowed scholarship
fund, providing financial support
to Kirkwood students in business
programs in perpetuity.
College officials made the
announcement at the end of
a celebration of the Kirkwood
Foundation's Real World Success
capital campaign. The final total of
$18,701,497 far exceeded campaign
organizers' original goal of $12.5
million, achieving nearly 50 percent
over the goal.
In honor of this gift, the college
has named a key meeting facility The
Henry B. Tippie Business Event Room.
It is a focal point for many corporate
and organizational functions since the
Kirkwood Center opened in early 2008.
In remarks to hundreds of
supporters and staff, Kirkwood
President Mick Starcevich called Tippie
a ?model Iowan? who has kept a close
and caring watch on his native area.
"Henry has never forgotten his Iowa
roots. He has never forgotten that
personal success must include the
stewardship of the world around you.
He is a shining example of the wisdom
that improving the lot of those around
you now will make the future richer for
everyone later on," Starcevich said.
Henry B. Tippie grew up on a farm
near Belle Plaine, Iowa and formed
his work ethic during the 1930s Great
Depression. He enlisted in the Army
Air Force after graduation in 1944, and
served both domestic and overseas in
the Pacific with the 20th Air Force in
the final days of World War II.
He later went on to study business at
the University of Iowa, earning a BSC
degree with a major in accounting. He
quickly rose in the ranks of American
business, eventually helping to found
and guide various business operations
from home pest control to cattle
ranching and NASCAR racing venues.
He is the director of five companies
traded on the New York Stock
Exchange that he helped to create.
His support of higher education
in Iowa is legendary, including a
major gift to the University of Iowa
that created the Henry B. Tippie
College of Business. Another recent
gift established an endowed business
faculty position at Coe College in
Cedar Rapids.
Tippie and his wife, Patricia,
have long been stalwart supporters
of Kirkwood, creating gifts of beef
teaching facilities at the college, as well
as establishing the Tippie-Mansfield
Center and an additional teaching
annex in Belle Plaine. The couple has
funded several scholarships over the
past two decades, and has established
one of the first endowments of
Kirkwood?s Endowed Faculty Chair
program. Other Tippie gifts have
encouraged construction of the
Belle Plaine Community Library,
the Belle Plaine Area Museum, and
the Mansfield/Tippie Airport and
Industrial Park.
His many business achievements
and leading philanthropic generosity
have earned Henry B. Tippie many
awards and honors. He was given the
nationally prestigious Horatio Alger
Award in 1996, and was named to the
Junior Achievement Eastern Iowa Hall
of Fame in 2004. Tippie is the recipient
of an Honorary Doctorate from the
University of Iowa in 2009 and from
Allegheny College in 2011.
Kathy L. Hall, Kirkwood's Vice
President of Development, said "Due
to the extraordinary generosity of
Henry B. and Patricia B. Tippie,
countless generations of Kirkwood
students will benefit from increased
opportunities and access to education."