Tippie gift to support athletics and business

A $5 million gift to the University of Iowa Foundation from Henry B. Tippie (1949 B.S.C.) is benefiting students in the UI Henry B. Tippie College of Business, and student-athletes and building projects in the UI Department of Intercollegiate Athletics.

Henry and Patricia Tippie. Photo by Tom Langdon.

The Tippie gift is part of For Iowa. Forever More: The Campaign for the University of Iowa, the university’s $1.7 billion comprehensive campaign, which will run through 2016. The $5 million gift contributes to the $1.025 billion raised to date that was announced on May 2. The campaign is raising private funds to support three university priorities: educating students to thrive in a complex, global society; ensuring a healthier and more sustainable world through discoveries in medicine, allied health fields, and environmental science; and enriching commerce, culture, and communities for Iowans through creative entrepreneurship in business, the arts and humanities, social sciences, and civic literacy and engagement.

A $2 million portion of the gift has established the Henry B. and Patricia B. Tippie Athletic Fund, which supports the football practice facility building campaign. An additional $1 million has been added to the Henry Fund, and will provide scholarship support for one or more Hawkeye football student-athletes who are majoring in business. The Henry Fund is an endowed equity portfolio managed by select M.B.A. students enrolled in the Applied Securities Management course at the Henry B. Tippie School of Management. The remaining $2 million of the gift is supplementing the existing Henry B. Tippie College of Business Endowment Fund, which is used to fund student scholarships and faculty.

Tippie, for whom the UI business college was named in recognition of his significant commitment to the college in 1999, has long been a generous UI supporter, beginning with his gift of $5 in 1953. Now, 60 years later, he said he hopes that continuing his commitment to his alma mater will help others benefit, as he did, from the UI experience.

“The University of Iowa has had a tremendous impact on my life and career,” Tippie says. “My wife and I are honored by the opportunity to help Iowa continue to have that same impact on the UI community now and into the future.”

“Henry Tippie is a true Iowa success story, a remarkable friend to the university, and a great inspiration to us all,” says University of Iowa President Sally Mason. “Henry and his wife Pat have been extraordinarily generous in sharing so much with us over the years in areas all across campus. We are delighted and honored that the Tippie support for our students continues with this generous gift in support of scholarships and our football program.”

Originally from Belle Plaine, Iowa, Tippie earned a B.S.C. degree in accounting from the UI in 1949. He is chairman and CEO of Tippie Services, Inc.; chairman of the board of Dover Downs Gaming & Entertainment, Inc., and Dover Motorsports, Inc.; and presiding director of Rollins, Inc., RPC, Inc., and Marine Products Corporation. In addition, he is the owner of Tippie Ranch, a 34,000 acre working cattle ranch near Waco, Texas.

In addition to his most recent gift, Tippie has endowed scholarship funds, a faculty chair and dean’s chair, research professorships, and programs in the Tippie College of Business and across the UI campus throughout the years. He was a founding member of the College of Business Board of Visitors, and in 2009 was elected as a Lifetime Honorary Director of the UI Foundation Board of Directors after nine years of active service to the board.

Tippie received the Outstanding Accounting Alumnus Award from the UI in 1989, the Distinguished Alumni Award for Service from the UI Alumni Association in 1981, and the UI Hancher-Finkbine Medallion in 2002. Nationally, he was awarded the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans Award in 1996. Henry and his wife, Patricia, are members of the UI Presidents Club, the 1847 Society, the Tippie College of Business Dean’s Club, and the UI Alumni Association’s Honors Circle. The Tippies also are serving as honorary co-chairs for the UI’s comprehensive fundraising campaign, For Iowa. Forever More. and as honorary co-chairs of the Tippie College of Business campaign. Henry Tippie is the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from the UI in 2009 and from Allegheny College in 2011. The Tippies currently reside in Austin, Texas.

About the University of Iowa Foundation
The University of Iowa Foundation’s mission is advancing the University of Iowa and fulfilling the aspirations of those it serves. The university’s dedicated contributors fund a broad array of needs, from student scholarships, breakthrough research, and life-changing health care to innovative facilities, community outreach, and global education.

The University of Iowa Foundation is the preferred channel for private contributions that benefit all areas of the University of Iowa. For more information about the foundation and the campaign, visit the foundation website at www.uifoundation.org.