Longtime Penn State volunteers and advocates Arthur and Paige Nagle
have committed $1.25 million to three University programs in support of
the arts, graduate studies and student-athletes.Longtime Penn State volunteers and advocates Arthur and Paige Nagle
have committed $1.25 million to three University programs in support of
the arts, graduate studies and student-athletes.
Art Nagle, a 1961 graduate of the College of the Liberal Arts with an MBA from Columbia University, is a managing director at Vestar Capital Partners, a private investment firm in New York. Paige Nagle is a graduate of Northwestern University's School of Speech and runs her own interior design firm. The Nagles live in Bronxville, N.Y., and have a daughter, Katie, and a son, Chris, who is a speech communication major at Penn State.
From the total gift, $500,000 benefits the College of Arts and Architecture by establishing the Nagle Family Endowment for Music Theatre in the School of Theatre Arts. The fund will provide support for such needs as acquiring new works, awarding scholarships and attracting visiting artists and professors.
Another $500,000 of the gift bolsters various efforts in Intercollegiate Athletics, including the Morgan Academic Support Center for Student-Athletes. The center's C.H.A.M.P.S. (Challenging Athletes' Minds for Personal Success) program will be named in honor of the Nagle family.
The gift also endows a graduate fellowship for the College of the Liberal Arts with $250,000. The fellowship will be named for Susan Welch, current dean of the college, and the Nagle family.
Past gifts from the Nagles benefited such undertakings as the Penn State Educational Partnership Program to help disadvantaged middle-school students succeed academically, the construction of The Bryce Jordan Center, the Campaign for the Library, athletics and scholarships, including the Nagle Family Endowed Scholarship for Women's Soccer.
For the forthcoming University-wide capital campaign, Art Nagle will chair the New York regional committee and serve on the steering, executive and Intercollegiate Athletics committees. He was a member of the National Development Council from 1991 to 1996, then Penn State's top fund-raising advisory board, and chaired the New York regional committee for the campaign for the Jordan Center. He also is a member of the Penn State Endowment Investment Advisory Council.
Before forming Vestar Capital Partners in 1988, he worked as a systems engineer for IBM and a managing director of First Boston Corp., and was an officer in the U.S. Navy, serving nearly two years in Vietnam. He has served on the boards of directors of more than 25 major firms and currently serves on the boards of Lawrence Hospital in Bronxville, N.Y., and the HealthStar Network of Communities Hospitals in Armonk, N.Y. He also is a founding board member of the Bronxville School Foundation.
Paige Nagle, in addition to her interior design firm, has a strong interest in the performing arts. For the past 20 years, she has been active -- including serving several terms as chairperson -- with a music therapy group that performs for elderly and infirm persons in nursing homes, hospitals, senior citizen centers and other settings. She also served for seven years on the Bronxville Design Review Board and is currently a vestry member of Christ Church in Bronxville.
A gift of more than $700,000 from members of the College of Engineering
campaign committee, will benefit graduate students in the college.
Three College of Engineering campaign committee members have pledged more than $700,000 to endow graduate fellowships. The three gifts to the University's forthcoming campaign were received from James E. Marley, committee chair, Fred A. Breidenbach, and Frank Gabron, and their families.
* James E. Marley, chairman of the board of AMP Inc., and his wife, Judy, pledged $500,000 for the James E. and Judy A. Marley Graduate Fellowship in Engineering. Their fellowship is designated to recognize and support outstanding graduate students who have been admitted to the College of Engineering.
James Marley is a 1957 aerospace engineering alumnus, a 1985 Outstanding Engineering Alumnus, a 1994 Penn State Distinguished Alumnus and Engineering's 1993 Honorary Lecturer.
Judy Marley graduated from Penn State Harrisburg with a bachelor's degree in humanities in 1992 and is the owner of Crumbs & Co., a retailer of cookies and cookie jars. The Marleys have generously supported the college in the past, have three adult children, and reside in the Harrisburg area.
* Frank Gabron and his wife, Mildred, have donated more than $107,500 for the Gabron Family Graduate Fellowship in Mechanical Engineering to honor the memory of Professor George M. Dusinberre. Dusinberre was a professor of mechanical engineering from 1948 to 1960, and was Gabron's friend and mentor. First preference for this fellowship will be given to students who intend to pursue a career in industry and are interested in the field of heat transfer.
Frank Gabron earned a master's degree in mechanical engineering from Penn State in 1955. Retired as chairman of the Helix Technology Corp., he is a 1987 Outstanding Engineering Alumnus and a 1989 Penn State Alumni Fellow. In addition, he was awarded the PSES Distinguished Service Award in 1991 when he served as the college's Keen Professor of Entrepreneurship in Engineering. Mildred Gabron is an alumna of Lasell College.
Before this current graduate fellowship, the Gabrons established two undergraduate scholarships and another graduate fellowship in the College of Engineering. The Gabrons live in Hollis, N.H., and have one son.
* Fred Breidenbach and his wife, Susan, have established the Fred A. and Susan Breidenbach Graduate Fellowship in Engineering to support and recognize students exhibiting academic excellence in the College of Engineering. Like other University endowed fellowships, the Breidenbachs' pledge of $100,000 will be invested, with a portion of the income used annually to support graduate engineering students.
Fred Breidenbach is a 1968 industrial engineering graduate and also earned an M.B.A. from Xavier University in Cincinnati. He spent 25 years in General Electric's engine and aerospace sectors, starting as a management trainee and spending his last five years as a GE officer. In 1993, he joined Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. as the president and chief operating officer, and in 1997 established his own consulting company. He is on the board of directors of Kaman Corp. and was named a 1991 Outstanding Engineering Alumnus.
Susan Breidenbach is a 1969 alumna of Millersville State University and
taught Spanish and French before raising the couple's two sons. The
Breidenbachs live in Hilton Head, S.C.