JONESBORO -- The family of Jonesboro real estate developer Robert "Bob" Wood donated $1 million to Arkansas State University-Jonesboro's College of Business to develop a sales leadership center and to provide scholarships and professor endowments, university officials announced Monday.
It was the largest gift to the college and among the top 10 largest donations in ASU-Jonesboro's history, College of Business Dean Shane Hunt said.
"We will be able to build a truly world-class sales center," Hunt said. "This will enhance everything we do in the College of Business."
Wood, who died Feb. 5, earned a business degree in 1960 at what was then named Arkansas State College in Jonesboro. He served in the U.S. Army and moved back to Jonesboro in 1977, when he began developing land for commercial use.
"We have a chance to prepare our students for successful careers in business," said Jason Penry, vice chancellor for university advancement at ASU-Jonesboro. "We've already had businesses reach out to us wanting us to supply their workforce with qualified students.
"This is about helping students," Penry added.
Hunt said the money will create scholarships for business students and to hire new faculty. The College of Business also plans to develop the R.M. "Bob" Wood Sales Leadership Center on the ASU-Jonesboro campus, where students can obtain hands-on experience in sales training. The money will also fund students' travel to national sales competitions.
The university will build several offices, add teleconference equipment and install video capability to record test sales presentations for students, Hunt said.
"We are thrilled," Hunt said. "We want to work to ensure that every day we are doing things to honor Bob Wood's family and his name."
Wood was born in Webster Groves, Mo., in 1932. After graduating high school, he went into the Army and served as a military police officer in Korea.
He returned to St. Louis and then moved to Jonesboro, where he enrolled in college. He met his future wife, Peggy Ann Beck, while in school. The two were married in 1961.
Upon graduation, Wood once again lived in St. Louis and became a traveling salesman, his son-in-law, Mark Ammerman of Houston, Texas, said.
"He drove around by car, and sent letters and did face-to-face relations," Ammerman said. "He was a shirt-sleeves, simple businessman."
In 1977, when his children were growing up, Wood decided to "get off the road," Ammerman said, and the family moved back to Jonesboro.
"He loved Jonesboro," his son-in-law said. "He loved ASU."
Wood developed thousands of acres of land, including prime property in the center of Jonesboro.
After he died, his family began liquidating properties and wanted to do something to memorialize him.
"Bob drove an old El Camino," Ammerman said. "If it needed new paint, he'd drive to the hardware store and get 10 cans of paint and paint it. No one would look at him and think he built this huge empire.
"We saw plans for the [ASU] leadership program and thought, 'This sounds like Bob. This really fits him,'" he said.
The family first considered donating $500,000, but increased it to $1 million as a challenge to others.
"We did it on purpose," Ammerman said of the increase. "ASU doesn't get gifts of this size much. We know others can do it, so we upped it as a 'pioneer donation' and hope others follow."
The largest gift to the university was $14.7 million by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation in May 2007 for the construction of a three-story health sciences building. Jonesboro banker Wallace Fowler donated $5 million for the Fowler Arts Center on the ASU-Jonesboro campus, and Jonesboro businessman Johnny Allison gave $5 million for renovation of the ASU Red Wolves football stadium.
"We are grateful for the Wood family," ASU-Jonesboro Chancellor Tim Hudson said Monday in a news release. "Their generosity will help [ASU's] College of Business reach new heights and dream bigger dreams."
State Desk on 10/06/2015