Interim Chancellor Chris Spilling cuts a ribbon as UMSL dedicates the new Richter Family Welcome and Alumni Center. He was joined by (from left) UMSL Alumni Association President Kat Riddler, Vice Chancellor Reggie Hill, Curator Lyda Krewson, Missouri Sen. Brian Williams, Chancellor Emerita Kristin Sobolik, Maureen Richter, Laura Richter, Dan Richter and Vice Chancellor Lisa Capone. (Photos by Derik Holtmann)
Many of the University of Missouri–St. Louis’ biggest supporters gathered Thursday evening to celebrate the dedication of the new Richter Family Welcome and Alumni Center and recognize the donors and partners who helped make the project possible.
The dedication ceremony honored the vision of the late Kirk Richter, brought to life in the new building that is located on the east side of Alumni Circle and connected to the J.C. Penney Building.
Richter, a 1968 accounting graduate of the Ed G. Smith College of Business and devoted alum who served as president of the UMSL Alumni Association, made a lead gift toward the creation of the center shortly before his death in 2022. He hoped it would be a place that could connect the university’s past with its future, welcoming prospective students to campus while also providing a dedicated space for alumni to return and get involved at their alma mater.
Alumni and donors gather outside the new Richter Family Welcome and Alumni Center for a dedication on Thursday evening.
Members of Richter’s family, including daughter Laura, son Dan and wife Maureen, joined Chancellor Emerita Kristin Sobolik, Interim Chancellor Chris Spilling, Missouri State Sen. Brian Williams, University of Missouri Curator Lyda Krewson, UMSL Alumni Association President Kat Riddler and Vice Chancellors Lisa Capone and Reggie Hill in a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“As you can imagine, we wish he were here today to take part in this day, to see the fruition of that spark years ago,” said Laura Richter, speaking on behalf of her family as she shared reflections of Kirk with an audience of about 150 people gathered inside the new space. “To accept thanks for his quiet generosity and modeling of what it means to always remember who you are and where you came from, and never forget that where your heart is, your treasure will also reside.”
Kirk Richter’s example of giving back, through both service and philanthropy, inspired others to become involved and invest in UMSL’s future, helping to bring to life the sparkling 31,000-square foot space, designed by architect Amy Luchun and her team at the Lamar Johnson Collaborative, and complete with numerous lounge areas and meeting spaces that will be used to invite people of all kinds into the UMSL community. A tribute to Richter and his family is featured on the building’s main-floor donor wall alongside recognition of the alumni, families and friends whose generosity helped make the center possible, including Terry and Stan Freerks, Mark and Kathy Jansen, David Reifschneider, Paul Matteucci and the Honorable Brenda Stith Loftin.
Laura Richter shares reflections on the life and legacy of her late father, Kirk Richter, at Thursday evening’s dedication ceremony.
Prospective and current students will be able to meet members of UMSL’s admissions team as they search for answers to questions about financial aid, scholarships, academic programs and all the resources the university offers to help students succeed.
Graduates will also be able to seek out members of the Office of Alumni Engagement, to learn about what’s going on at their university and how they can contribute to its future success.
“This is the front door to the University of Missouri–St. Louis,” Sobolik said. “It is from here that everybody stands.”
The project that Kirk Richter pushed for has become a centerpiece of the Transform UMSL initiative, a multi-year effort to improve and modernize the university’s campus through $110 million in construction and renovation projects so that it’s prepared to meet the needs of students now and into the future.
“The work that made this building possible began years ago with a deliberate effort to reimagine our campus and create for our students, faculty and staff the environments that they need to thrive,” Sobolik said.
Alumni and donors gather in the Terry and Stan Freerks Forum during a dedication ceremony for the new Richter Family Welcome and Alumni Center
It is because of that preparation that the university was ready to act, with the backing of elected officials, when an extraordinary opportunity for funding arose from the state of Missouri, made possible by the American Rescue Plan Act.
In all, the state directed $80 million toward UMSL over a three-year period to support Transform UMSL projects. Alumni, donors and community partners also stepped forward, contributing more than $19 million to help reinvent the campus. The university is stronger because of their collective efforts.
Williams, who has been a strong advocate for UMSL at the state capitol in Jefferson City, explained why he thinks the opening of the Richter Family Welcome and Alumni Center is so significant.
“I want to acknowledge that, somewhere out there, there’s a family ready to drive onto this campus for the first time,” Williams said during brief remarks. “Maybe that student is the first one, like me, in their family to try college, and maybe it’s a student flying in from another state or country who never set foot a single day in St. Louis. Either way, what happens those first 10 minutes shapes whether they can picture themselves here at all. That’s what this building is for.”
Members of the Richter family stand in front of the donor wall at the new Richter Family Welcome and Alumni Center. The wall features a tribute to the late Kirk Richter, who pushed for the creation of the center and provided a lead gift before his death.
Kirk Richter too was once a first-generation college student seeking a home in higher education. He didn’t come from out of state but rather from the Walnut Park neighborhood of north St. Louis, graduating from Beaumont High School. UMSL welcomed him in as part of its second class in 1964.
Laura Richter said her father paid $10 per credit hour and had the backing of a Price Waterhouse Coopers scholarship as he worked to earn his degree. It forever changed his life.
Kirk Richter went on to become a CPA and wound up spending the bulk of his career – more than three decades – working in accounting and finance for Sigma-Aldrich, the St. Louis-based chemical, life science and biotechnology company. He retired in 2012 as the company’s interim chief financial officer.
Richter believed strongly that others be given the same opportunity he had to get a quality education at UMSL. That was what motivated him to stay connected to the university, serving on the Business Alumni Board starting at its inception in 1975 and in retirement becoming the Alumni Association president and contributing to the planning and construction for the home of the College of Business in Anheuser-Busch Hall.
Guests gather for a reception in the new Richter Family Welcome and Alumni Center following a dedication ceremony.
Though he was honored with the first Dean’s Medal from the College of Business, chosen as a Distinguished Alumni Award recipient and presented, alongside Maureen, with the E. Desmond and Mary Ann Lee Medal for Philanthropy, Richter was never one to seek out credit or recognition.
“We celebrate this humble man who, right down to the last bit, insisted that this not be called the Kirk Richter Center but the Richter Family Welcome and Alumni Center, because, as he would have told you, this isn’t about him,” Laura Richter said. “And while he would maintain that this wasn’t about him, we want to suggest that some small part of today is really about my dad and all of you who shared that passion and that vision, that long-standing commitment to education, to the university, and to this city.”
The Richter Family Welcome and Alumni Center will mark its official opening with an Alumni Open House on Sept. 24. There is also an open house planned for students, faculty and staff on Sept. 30.
