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Pfendler Hall campaign goes public
By MYRON DAVIS
The University Board of Trustees approved the renaming of Agriculture
Hall to the David C. Pfendler Hall of Agriculture in honor of
Dave's extraordinary service to thousands of our students over
a four-decades career. The honor, approved in July, has met with
broad acclaim.
What you may not have known is that we have been working on a
silent campaign to raise funds for the historic building's restoration.
Purdue Agriculture's oldest structure, is also the first in Purdue
history to undergo a true historic restoration. With almost $1.5
million already committed, the Pfendler Hall Campaign is going
public to raise the balance of the $2 million goal. Multi-year
pledges, stock, cash, real estate, and other kinds of gifts will
help us make the wonderful building vitally functional and, once
again, a must-see stop on the Purdue campus.
The restoration is part of an even larger $14 million project
to renovate the building and construct a 24,000-square-foot addition
on its south side, connecting with the Whistler Hall of Agricultural
Research. When the project is completed, Pfendler Hall will house
the administrative offices of the Department of Forestry and Natural
Resources, the Agricultural Development Office and the Agricultural
Alumni Office.
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Development Briefs
Faculty can have a profound impact on individuals well beyond
the confines of the campus classroom. Here's an example.
Late in the summer of 1999, Purdue's Charles Michler was the
featured speaker for the American Walnut Council. Michler, an
adjunct associate professor in the Department of Forestry and
Natural Resources, heads Purdue's world-leading program for the
genetic improvement of furniture-grade fine hardwood
species. (See related story)
In the audience was Fred van Eck, a New York-based financier
who owned thousands of acres of timber. Van Eck was so impressed
by what Purdue had already accomplished and by what was planned
for the future to improve hardwood tree growth rate, quality,
disease resistance and more, that he approached Michler after
the presentation, saying that he wished to endow the program.
Before his death in 2000, van Eck provided the second largest
gift ever to a Purdue department. His gift included 2,000 acres
of redwood forest near Eureka, Calif., and, 7,000 acres of Douglas
fir forest in Oregon. With the conservation easements attached,
these properties are valued in excess of $21 million.
Each year FNR will receive a very significant income from the
properties that will be used to advance hardwood tree research,
benefiting an industry that is very important to Indiana's economy.
Incidentally, van Eck was not a Purdue graduate. In fact, Michler
was van Eck's first point of contact with the university.
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