10/11/07

Gift to KU establishes endowed fund for business school scholarships

LAWRENCE — A loyal Jayhawk fan who wasn’t able to attend the University of Kansas has given a $100,000 gift to fund new scholarships for KU business majors.

Gladys Van Compernolle established the Leon E. and Gladys M. Van Compernolle Business Scholarship at KU Endowment in memory of her husband, Leon. The scholarships will be awarded annually to three students, starting with the 2008-09 school year.

Van Compernolle, who lives in Dallas, said she wanted the scholarships, which will be based on academic merit and financial need, to help students complete their educations.

In providing the scholarships, Van Compernolle is creating opportunities for KU students that she never had. She said that when she and her late husband were young, attending college wasn’t an option for either of them.
“We were Depression-era children,” she said.

Van Compernolle said her endowed scholarship reflects KU’s significance to her family. She and her husband were long-time, loyal Jayhawk fans.

“We had a lot of fun attached to KU,” Van Compernolle said. “We had four children who all went there. We also had tickets to the basketball games and the football games. I really enjoyed KU.”

Bill Fuerst, dean of KU’s School of Business, said he appreciated Van Compernolle’s generous gift and the thoughtfulness she has shown to the university.

“Neither Leon or Gladys Van Compernolle attended KU, but they lived in the area and they saw the great value that KU had for this area and the state of Kansas,” Fuerst said. “She felt so strongly about the value of KU that she really wanted to do something significant for students in the business school.”

With the exception of four and a half years in the Navy, Leon Van Compernolle focused his career on the food industry. He took his first job at age 12, delivering groceries with a small wagon. He later worked for several large grocery corporations, including Kroger and Fleming Foods. While working for Fleming Foods, Van Compernolle completed Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program for business executives. When he retired in the early 1980s, he was a regional vice president for Fleming Foods, as well as the manager of the corporation’s Topeka division.

“He was very devoted to the companies he worked for,” Gladys Van Compernolle said, adding that her husband took time to get to know employees throughout the company. “He would go out in the warehouse and he would get acquainted with all the people who worked there and they thought very highly of him.”

Paul Van Compernolle, who graduated from KU’s School of Business in 1982, described his parents, who were married for 60 years, as hard-working people who conscientiously saved money. As a result, they were able to send their children to college, provide for their own retirements and contribute to charities.

“I think the new scholarship is something that mom wanted to take care of in her lifetime,” he said. “It was my mom’s idea. She really wanted to do it.”

The gift will be managed by KU Endowment, an independent, nonprofit organization serving as the official fundraising and fund-management organization for KU. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment is the first foundation of its kind at a U.S. public university.

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