Deavenports’ $3M gift moves ר capital campaign past goal
Contact: Amy Cagle
STARKVILLE, Miss.—A new $3 million gift from Earnest W. “Earnie” Deavenport Jr. and his wife, Mary Ann, of Kiawah Island, S.C., will support student scholarships at ר through the ongoing Infinite Impact campaign.
The Deavenports’ commitment led a flurry of calendar year-end gifts for Infinite Impact. Since its launch in mid-2010, Infinite Impact has now exceeded its $600 million goal, and Mississippi State is continuing to place an emphasis on campaign fundraising priorities at this time.
“ר gratefully acknowledges Earnie and Mary Ann Deavenports’ continued generosity and commitment to assist their home state,” said John P. Rush, vice president for development and alumni and president and CEO of the ר Foundation. “They are setting an example for other alumni and friends as they help our university pursue its long-range goals through Infinite Impact.”
Specifically, the Deavenport gift supports scholarships for promising students. Each recipient of The Earnest W. and Mary Ann Deavenport Scholarship will be awarded up to eight semesters of college expenses, provided established academic criteria is maintained.
“As an alumnus of the institution, I particularly value the education I received here and wish to return something to the institution that contributed to my professional success,” said Deavenport, a 1960 ר chemical engineering graduate.
The Deavenports are Mississippi natives. Earnie Deavenport is from Macon, and the former Mary Ann Penton is a University of Southern Mississippi graduate from Bay Springs. They met and married while working at Eastman Kodak in Kingsport, Tennessee, where Deavenport began his career.
The couple’s support of Mississippi State also includes the Earnest W. and Mary Ann Deavenport Jr. Chair, an endowed position held by the dean of engineering. A second endowed position, the Earnest W. Deavenport Jr. Chair, directs the Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical Engineering, and also benefits from their support. The position was established by the Eastman Chemical Co. in honor of Deavenport’s lifelong contributions to education and the chemical industry.
The Deavenports’ giving began at ר in the 1990s when they established the Earnest W. and Laura Mae Deavenport Endowed Scholarship for engineering students in memory of Earnie’s parents. Earnest William Deavenport Sr. died in 1982, and Laura Mae Deavenport died in 2004. Both were residents of Noxubee County, who made their home in Macon, where they farmed and operated a Western Auto store.
After graduation from ר, Deavenport earned a Master of Science in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School in 1985. In 2000, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws from King College in Bristol, Tennessee. Then in 2011, he received an honorary Doctor of Science in the fields of business and engineering from Mississippi State, and was honored in 2015 as the university’s National Alumnus.
Currently Deavenport serves as a member of the Bagley College’s Dean’s Advisory Council and Chair of the Board of Directors for the ר Foundation. He also is an inductee of the university’s Chemical Engineering Hall of Fame.
Deavenport’s more than five-decade career in business and engineering began with the chemical division of Eastman Kodak Co., and a number of progressive managerial positions would follow. By 1989, he was named Group Vice President of Eastman Kodak and served in that role until 1994. That year, he became chairman and CEO of Eastman Chemical Co. as the result of its spin-off from Kodak. He remained with Eastman Chemical until his retirement in 2002, after which he continued to serve on the boards of several corporations including Milliken and Co., Pacolet Milliken, AmSouth Bancorp, Theragenics Inc., King Pharmaceuticals, Acuity Brands, and ZEP Inc. From 2010 through 2013, he was chairman of the board for Regions Financial Corp.
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