What a Way to Move into the New Decade!

1937 grad leaves big legacy

When Earl and Lanice Riopelle of Fort Worth, Texas, wrote their will some years ago, they described a vision of post-baccalaureate courses to better prepare engineers for seeking corporate management roles. A $1.2 million estate gift from the Riopelles to Kettering University will do just that.

The Earl and Lanice Riopelle Fund will create a $1.2 million endowment to support Graduate Programs and Continuing Education opportunities, especially for engineers seeking advancement in business and industry. The fund will also provide resources and library materials for Graduate-level and Continuing Education coursework at the University.

The gift is one of the largest estate gifts ever given to the University.

"Kettering University is very grateful to the Riopelle family for this lasting and noteworthy gift," said President Stan Liberty. "There is a dynamic value to Earl and Lanice's contribution," Liberty said. "We will use this investment to help professional engineers improve themselves and their companies. We will also use it to develop new coursework in areas, such as Technical Management and Engineering Management, exactly the kind of pro-active, post-graduate education Earl envisioned at his alma mater."

Earl and Lanice Riopelle

Earl Riopelle, 1914-2005 worked as a co-op student with Charles Kettering in GM's research department. Earl's career included employment with General Motors as well as management consulting well into his later years. His contributions to industry include a shared patent in 1948 for improvements to a T.C. VanDeGrift Balancing Machine. At his death in 2005, he was honored by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, who noted that he had been an active member of their organization since 1955. His wife, Lanice, died in 2006. The couple last lived in Fort Worth.

Building a pipeline filled with eventual estate gifts is critical to Kettering's future. Won't you consider a gift through your will or trust? No matter what the size, it will strengthen this significant national treasure known as Kettering University.