Seattle Couple Gives Michigan Tech $5 Million
HOUGHTON MI--Michigan Technological University has received the final commitment on one of the largest individual gifts in its history. Dick and Bonnie Robbins of Seattle, Washington, have completed a $5 million gift to the University's Leaders for Innovation Campaign.
"Bonnie and I are proud to be among the first donors to the campaign," Dick Robbins said, "and we're honored to be a part of something so significant at Michigan Tech."
The gift will support a wide range of programs at Michigan Tech, including the recently completed Dow Environmental Sciences and Engineering Building, the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts (now under construction), and the University's mining engineering department.
"Dick and Bonnie Robbins have been solid supporters of Michigan Tech and have made a number of programs possible over the last several years," said MTU President Curt Tompkins. "Without their support, we would not have been able to build the Dow environmental building or the Rozsa Center for the Performing Arts."
Dick Robbins is one of the most innovative developers of tunneling machine technology in the world. He earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Michigan Tech in 1956 and took over the Robbins Company in 1958, after his father died in an airplane crash. The company had built the first modern tunnel boring machine in 1952, but a business slowdown reduced it to just two employees in 1960.
Robbins steadily built the company to more than 450 employees before its sale in the mid-1990s to the Swedish industrial giant Atlas Copco. Robbins and his company were responsible for a series of breakthroughs and records in tunnel boring technology, from mining applications to designing the huge machines that bored under the English Channel to create the Chunnel.
The Robbins are long-time supporters of Michigan Tech. They announced their gift at a recent meeting of the Michigan Tech Fund Board of Trustees. They were also present at the dedication of the Dow building, which includes a three-story atrium named in their honor.
Dick Robbins is chairing the University's Leaders for Innovation capital campaign with a goal of raising $100 million in private gifts. The five-year effort, now in its early stages, will fund student scholarships, faculty endowments, information technology enhancements, and other critical needs.
###
03/26/99