In Memoriam

TRIBUTE Cloud Cray

Longtime Case supporter and entrepreneurship champion Cloud “Bud” Cray Jr. ’43 passed away March 8, 2019, at age 96, only months after funding a new center for business creation at Sears think[box]. The Cray Center for Venture Creation, dedicated October 19, 2018, assures that Cray will influence future generations of innovators and business founders. The Kansas native committed $4 million toward building the Cray Center and endowing its operations. He was unable to attend the dedication, but was represented by one of his granddaughters and two of his daughters, including Karen Seaberg, the chairwoman of the board of the family business, MGP Ingredients.

The daughters expressed delight with the Cray Center and said it well represent their father’s feelings for his alma mater.

“He felt that he got a great education at Case,” said Roger Cerne ’63, executive advisor in the Office of Development and External Affairs of the Case School of Engineering. Cerne helped re-introduce Cray to the modern campus, including the vision of Sears think[box].

“The fact that the school was embracing entrepreneurship, he thought that was extremely important,” Cerne said.

Cray earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering at the Case School of Applied Science, where he pledged Sigma Alpha Epsilon. In University Circle he met his wife, Sally, a Flora Mather College student. They married in 1944, the same year he followed many of his classmates into the Army.

After military service, Cray worked for Dow Chemical before going home to Atchison, Kansas, to join the family business. Cloud Cray Sr. founded Midwest Solvents Company, a distillery, in 1941. His son built it into one of the nation’s leading suppliers of distilled spirits and specialty wheat proteins and starches.

Cloud Cray succeeded his father as president of the company and became chairman and CEO. In 2015, he retired from the board of directors after 68 years at the company, now known as MGP Ingredients. Shortly before, he made his first $2 million contribution to Sears think[box].

The Cray Center spans the newly finished sixth floor, a hushed, carpeted expanse that resembles corporate offices, in contrast to the workshops of the lower floors. It includes conference rooms, co-working spaces and offices for groups that support entrepreneurs—like CWRU LaunchNet, the IP Venture Clinic and SCORE. The idea behind the design is that student innovators will ascend from the lower floors to be launched from the Cray Center as business founders.

“Entrepreneurs are the backbone of this nation,” Cray said at the time of the dedication. “They represent people who desire to build companies with new ideas and innovations, offer employment to countless numbers of skilled workers and add to the welfare of this great country. The Cray Center for Venture Creation at Case Western Reserve University is my way of paving the way for Case students to have the opportunity that I have had in my career.”

Kimball D. Smith Jr. ’39; Pasadena, CA; 2-12-19 Cloud L. “Bud” Cray Jr. ’43; Atchison, KS; 2-27-19 George Springer ’45; Newton, MA; 2-18-19 Robert E. Lawrence Jr. ’48; Graham, NC; 1-26-19 William H. Brickner ’49; Cupertino, CA; 8-6-18 Robert E. Grubaugh ’49; Portland, OR; 1-15-19 William G. Shinko ’49; Cleveland, OH; 8-11-18 John L. Simonetti ’50; Brunswick Hills, OH; 12-8-18 George F. Bing MS ’51, PhD ’54; Livermore, CA; 11-18-18 Milton B. Hammond Jr. ’51; Downey, CA; 12-12-18 George R. Poore ’51; Santa Maria, CA; 2-24-19 James J. Bolzan Jr. ’52; Burlington, NC; 2-11-19 Robert T. Craig MS ’53; Sea Pines, SC; 12-25-18 John W. Schwartzenberg ’53, MS ’55; Maple Glen, PA; 3-28-19 Robert J. Titterington ’53; Delaware, OH; 2-6-19 Frank J. Kutina ’54; Chagrin Falls, OH; 2-20-19 William H. Monteith ’54; Silver Lake, OH; 1-22-19 Kermit D. Kuhl ’57, Lancaster, PA; 1-8-19 James L. Helm ’58; Wilmington, DE; 1-5-19 Ralph J. Hodous ’59; Cleveland, OH; 12-1-18 Erik Wiik ’59; Raleigh, NC; 1-14-19 Gerald F. Lucht ’60; Newark, DE; 9-1-18 Jacob Block PhD ’61; Portland, OR; 11-20-18 Gary B. Klatt ’61; Fort Atkinson, WI; 11-15-18 James A. Hudak ’62; Bentleyville, OH; 1-19-19 Bernard G. Huth ’63; Riverview, FL; 1-10-19 C. Leroy Mannon ’63; Southington, OH; 3-2-19 David J. Dougherty ’64; Akron, OH; 11-5-18 William G. Batte Sr. PhD ’66; Williamsburg, VA; 1-21-19 Douglas B. Smith ’66; Apex, NC; 1-16-19 Thomas E. Rebernak ’67; St. Charles, IL; 12-26-18 Herbert W. Pahlow ’68; Dunbar, WI; 10-2-18 Donald L. Fink ’68; South Euclid, OH; 1-13-19 Ronald P. DeStefano ’69; Moore Haven, FL; 9-7-18 Thomas R. Andrews ’70; Vail, AZ; 3-2-19 Eric L. Bradbury ‘70; Naples, FL; 12-19-18 Anton J. Hopfinger PhD ’70; Lake Forest, IL; 12-5-18 James W. Fernandez ’71; Seattle, WA; 12-12-18 Peter T. Shih PhD ’73; Dayton, OH; 12-15-18 Stanley A. Byers PhD ’74; Roslindale, MA; 6-27-14 James T. Lee ’75; Cleveland, OH; 2-8-14 Linda M. Kovacs ’79; Endicott, NY; 2-15-19 Stephen J. Hussell ’86; South Euclid, OH; 10-1-18 Robert A. Essig ’92; Madison, OH; 2-3-19 Julianne M. Vivirito MSE ‘00; Webster, TX; 2-18-19

CES 2020 is Jan. 7-10 in Las Vegas

See you there?

Case Western Reserve is returning to the consumer electronics show for the seventh consecutive year. Why? Because what happens in Vegas doesn’t stay there. Our students, faculty and alumni: • Make connections • See the state of the art • Exhibit Case innovation • Network at a Case alumni reception For complimentary tickets to the convention, contact Kelly Hendricks at 216-368-0635 or via Kelly.Hendricks@caselaum.org. For reception information, check back to Casealum.org