NU gets $50M for new institute
http://www.omaha.com/article/20100420/N ... -institute
Leslie Reed WORLD-HERALD LINCOLN BUREAU wrote:The founder of a center pivot manufacturing empire has promised $50 million to start a global Water for Food Institute to be based at the University of Nebraska.
The gift, from the Robert B. Daugherty Charitable Foundation, is one of the largest in NU's history.
Daugherty, 88, a self-described "city kid" from Omaha, invested his life savings - $5,000 - in a small farm implement manufacturing business outside Valley, Nebr., after serving in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II. In the early 1950s, looking to diversify the business, he joined forces with Frank Zybach, a farmer-inventor who had developed a prototype of the center pivot.
Valley Manufacturing Co. eventually grew into Valmont Industries, a global leader in mechanized agricultural irrigation systems, as well as in the design of poles, towers and structures for lighting, communications and utilities.