The University of Mississippi (UM) has announced a $2.5 million planned gift from alumnus Bill Fry (’80) and his wife, Lee Anne.

The gift will endow a faculty chair to be named for their two grown children in the School of Business Administration and support athletics programs through the Ole Miss Athletics Foundation’s planned giving vehicle. Fry has served on the business school’s advisory board for nearly two decades, and the couple are co-chairing UM’s $1.5 billion Now & Ever: The Campaign for Ole Miss campaign. The Frys’ previous gifts to UM include support of the Grisham-McLean Institute for Public Service and Community Engagement in 2018, a 2019 scholarship in memory of their niece, and a 2020 planned gift that established a faculty chair in the business school.

A graduate of the UM public administration program, Fry served as an officer in the U.S. Navy before earning a master’s degree from Harvard Business School in 1990 and has since led companies including the Dixie Group, Bell Sports, Bell Riddell, Easton Bell Sports, and the Oreck Corp. He is a partner in American Securities, a New York-based private equity fund.

“Lee Anne and I have been fortunate in our lives and want to be sure we give back in proportion to what we have received,” said Fry. “Ole Miss has been a major part of our families, a source of lifelong friendships and numerous memorable experiences. We are grateful for the opportunity to return our blessings and hope these gifts accelerate our Ole Miss family’s impact on the world.”

(Photo credit: Fredlyfish4 via Flickr)