3/27/06 Contact: Jamie Creamer, 334/844-2783 (jcreamer@auburn.edu)
David Granger, 334/844-9999 (grangdm@auburn.edu)

AU ALUMNUS COMMITS $6 MILLION TO COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE

AUBURN - Retired self-made millionaire and long-time poultry industry leader Wayne McElrath of Albertville has committed $6 million to Auburn University’s College of Agriculture for scholarships.
When fully funded, the R. Wayne and Nadine McElrath endowment will provide full tuition for dozens of students annually.

“I believe that you multiply yourself through people, and that’s what I am attempting to do with this endowment,” said McElrath. “It is my hope that each student who gets a scholarship will remember what it means to him or her and someday give in the same way, to help future students.”

McElrath and his late wife, Nadine, established the scholarship endowment in 1998 with an initial gift of $100,000. His planned gift of $6 million is the largest individual contribution ever to AU’s College of Agriculture.

A native of Cedar Bluff in Cherokee County, McElrath graduated from AU in 1952 with a degree in agriculture education. After a tour of duty as a U.S. Army platoon commander in the Korean War, he landed a job as a route salesman with St. Louis, Mo.-based Ralston Purina, then the largest animal feed company in the world.

When the company branched out into the poultry business, McElrath found his niche. He moved through the ranks with Ralston Purina’s egg and broiler operations before leaving in 1968 to join with his brother Herman and Ralston Purina poultry division vice president Don Corbett to launch a commercial egg business in Albertville.

In 1972, when Ralston Purina put its poultry and egg division on the block, the McElraths, Corbett and a group of general managers within the division pooled their resources and bought a portion of the operations, including the broiler division in Albertville, where McElrath had worked earlier in his career. That company operated as Corbett Enterprises until 1986, when it sold to Hudson Foods of Arkansas.

“That sale is the reason that I’m able to give to Auburn,” McElrath said. “Auburn means a lot to me, because I realize I never would have gotten that first job with Ralston Purina had I not had that ag degree.”

Dean Richard Guthrie said McElrath’s generosity will have widespread impact.

“Full-tuition scholarships will be a tremendous financial boon to students and their families and could mean the difference as to whether some students have the resources to attend college at all,” Guthrie said. “For the college, the availability of more scholarships will increase our competitiveness when it comes to attracting top students.”

The College of Agriculture currently offers 135 scholarships with total aid amounting to more than $514,000 annually. At current tuition levels, the McElrath endowment would fund almost 50 additional full-tuition scholarships per year.

The McElrath donation represents almost 22 percent of the college’s $27.7-million capital fundraising campaign goal that kicked off publicly in February.

Auburn University is currently undergoing its largest fundraising campaign ever. The “It Begins at Auburn” campaign is a $500-million comprehensive campaign that will raise funds for all colleges and schools on campus as well as the library, athletics, Auburn University at Montgomery and the museum. The campaign’s focus includes student, faculty and program endowments; facility, equipment and campus beautification; research; and current operations.

Auburn University is a preeminent land-grant and comprehensive research institution with more than 23,000 students and 6,500 faculty and staff. Ranked among the top 50 public universities nationally, Auburn is Alabama’s largest educational institution, offering more than 230 undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degree programs.

(Contributed by Jamie Creamer.)

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mar06:AU-McElrathendowment