#Gift September 29

We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post.

This month the #Coach4adayChallenge for September is to profile a biography of someone. Sometimes a GIFT can transform an institution. That was the case for a New Jersey Teachers College in 1992.

In 1992 Henry and Betty Rowan gave a GIFT of 100 Million Dollars to Glassboro State College. At the time it was recognized as primarily a state supported teacher’s college. That donation changed the institution. Since 1992 the institution has been known as Rowan University.

Henry Rowan

Rowan was the third of four children born to Dr. Henry M. Rowan Sr. and Margaret Frances Boyd Rowan in 1923. In 1929, two events dramatically altered Rowan’s life: the family fortune was lost in the stock market crash, and his parents divorced. He would not see his father again until he was an adult.

At an early age Henry Jr. was an entrepreneur. He started out raising chickens and selling eggs. In 1941 he enrolled in college dual degree program. He set out to earn a bachelor of arts from Williams College in Massachusetts and a master of science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. However, the program was interrupted by World War II. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet and trained to be a bomber pilot. Shortly after qualifying to fly the B- 17 bomber, news came that the war was over. 

After the war he went back to college and earned both degrees. In the 1950’s he and a business partner created Inductotherm. He had to sell his home to generate the necessary capital. His beliefs and work ethic paid off as today the Rancocas, NJ company boast some 40 other holdings. Rowan got it all started with his ideas for an Induction Furnace. His company is the worldwide leader in induction furnace technology 

In 1992 when Rowan gave Glassboro 100 Million Dollars it was the largest gift to a public college in the history of higher education. The school now has an engineering building named after him. In addition to the Engineering School which did not exist before the GIFT the university has two Medical Schools.

Rowan died on December 9, 2015 at the age of 92.

Here is a link to some other facts about Rowan and the impact of a GIFT.