UMSL alumnus Kirk Richter, BSBA 1968, is a 2013 UMSL Distinguished Contributor. (Photo by August Jennewein)
Forty-five years after earning his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Missouri–St. Louis, Kirk Richter is still very much involved with his alma mater. In particular, he’s focused on making the College of Business Administration at UMSL one of the top metropolitan business schools in the country. Not content to sit idly by and wait, Kirk has been on the frontline, helping spearhead the movement.
Kirk, who retired from the Sigma-Aldrich Corporation in 2012 after serving in various roles including vice president, treasurer and interim CFO, and his wife Maureen have given generously to the university, including $350,000 for a new College of Business Administration Building. That gift also includes money for the Dave Ganz Classroom, named in honor of the professor credited with helping build the accounting program. Kirk’s involvement also stretched to the actual building design. He was part of the group that worked with the architects to design the new building.
“The building project has been a long term need for that college. The ability to enable students to access all classes and related services of the college in one location will improve the educational experience and give the college a place that both the internal and external community recognizes as the home of the college,” he said. “The technologies incorporated in the new building will be equivalent to those now used in many businesses and not available in the current facilities.”
UMSL has received about $15 million in gifts and pledges to the new building, including a lead gift of $2.5 million from the Anheuser-Busch Foundation. The university is looking to double its available construction budget through the Higher Education Capital Fund, which was established by the state in 2012 to match private gifts toward college construction projects.
Kirk’s desire to give back to UMSL stems from his own first-hand experience at the university and his belief that UMSL needs to be a leader in education in the St. Louis region.
“I believe it’s critical that current and future students be given the opportunity to get the same quality education that I did at UMSL,” he said. “With most graduates continuing to reside in the St. Louis area, the education that UMSL provides is key to providing the future leaders for this area.”
This story originally appeared in the 2013 issue of University of Missouri–St. Louis Distinguished Contributors.
