East Carolina’s largest donors (continued) Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust The Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust has given more than $3.5 million in grants, including a school-based obesity reduction program for middle school students, along with programs to reduce the risk of chronic diseases among agricultural workers and their families. The trust is based in Winston-Salem. Ledyard E. Ross ’51
Harry and Tammy Smith Harry ’92 and Tammy Smith of Washington, N.C., pledged $1 million toward the Step Up to the Highest Level Campaign to construct a new basketball practice gym. He is CEO of Flanders Corp. C.D. Spangler Foundation The C.D. Spangler Foundation provided $250,000 matches to four distinguished professorships Wachovia/Wells Fargo Wachovia/Wells Fargo provided $1 million for the Partnership East program to enable community college students to become teachers. It also provided a gift for the athletics campaign. Walter and Marie Williams
Motivated by the importance of dental care in eastern North Carolina, Dr. Ross provided $4 million for the School of Dental Medicine. The new classroom building will bear his name. This was the campaign’s largest single gift.
Carol Mabe ’71
ECU, she says. They may have a child attending, or they may see a doctor who’s a graduate of the Brody School of Medicine. They may want to advance public education. Or they may want to promote economic development in the East. “Everybody has something that connects them to ECU in some way. “For everyone involved—the deans, foundation members, volunteers, down to the secretaries sending out memos—everyone has this passion for ECU,” Mabe says. “That’s why everyone does it. It’s an act of love. You care about its future.” East 31
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Dr. Matthew O. Schrenk, assistant professor of biology, received a $1.5 million grant from to develop the Deep Carbon Observatory’s Deep Life Directorate. This interdisciplinary project looks at deep fractures in continental rocks, groundwater wells in ancient ocean crust and newly discovered hydrothermal systems in the Caribbean. He also received $50,000 to further his research in ocean sciences.
Walter ’51 ’55 and Marie ’53 Williams of Greenville provided approximately $3.5 million in support of Project STEPP, athletics program initiatives and a student leadership program. Walter Williams is the founder of Trade Oil Co.
Eddie and Jo Allison Smith
Stuart T. Wright The North Carolina native, noted bibliographer and collector who lives in England made a gift of manuscripts and other first-edition books by wellknown authors, including Robert Penn Warren. The prized addition to Joyner Library’s special collections is valued at $1.5 million. —Marion Blackburn
The $1.332 million gift from the Grady White Boats executive and his wife created a distinguished professorship in the East Carolina Heart Institute at East Carolina University.
Go to our website, www.ecu.edu/east, to see a video thanking all Second Century Campaign donors. 31