COLLEGE STATION, Texas, April 13, 2009 – Donna and Gene Tromblee have parlayed retirement savings into a three-way benefit for chemical engineering students at Texas A&M University.
The Seabrook couple used savings from an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) to create a $30,000 endowment at the Texas A&M Foundation for the Donna and Gene Tromblee ’70 Scholarship in the C.D. Holland Scholars Program.
The Tromblees contributed another $10,000 to support needs of the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, including funds for a general excellence fund and study abroad participants.
“Fulfilling our mission would be much more difficult without the generous support of Aggies such as the Tromblees; Donna and Gene have the thanks of our faculty and our students, both current and future,” said Michael Pishko, department head and holder of the Charles D. Holland Professorship.
The first recipient of the Tromblee scholarship will be named for fall 2009.
The C.D. Holland Scholars program honors Charles D. Holland, who served as Texas A&M’s second chemical engineering department head from 1964 to 1987.
The Tromblees’ gift will help fund the cost for two chemical engineering students to participate in the summer 2009 Texas A&M Engineering Study Abroad Program, which will offer courses in Mexico, Panama/Costa Rica and Spain. While most programs focus heavily on the cultural aspects, the engineering summer curriculum puts more emphasis on the technical and professional experiences.
“We chose to give a gift for others to enjoy and from which to benefit as much as we have from my education at Texas A&M,” said Gene Tromblee.
A native of Minnesota, he graduated from high school in Huron, Ohio. He received his B.S. degree in chemical engineering in 1956 from Case Institute of Technology in Cleveland, Ohio, and a master’s in chemical engineering from Texas A&M in 1970.
He began his career with Monsanto as a technical service engineer at its Texas City plant. After several moves culminating in a return to Texas City as plant manager, Tromblee became involved in the leveraged buyout of the plant by the Sterling Group in 1986. He retired as vice president of operations of Sterling Chemicals in 1991, and is active in several volunteer organizations in the Houston area.
At Texas A&M Tromblee serves on the chemical engineering department’s advisory council. He is one of only four representatives accorded the title of “permanent member” in recognition of significant and frequent contributions to the department over an extended time.
Donna Tromblee, formerly Donna Pauli from Coon Rapids, Iowa, graduated in 1955 from Mercy Hospital school of nursing in Des Moines, Iowa. She moved to Galveston where she met her future husband and continued to work in the nursing profession a few years after their marriage. She maintains an interest in the profession and volunteers at a local hospital in the Houston area.
The Tromblees are members of the Texas A&M Legacy Society, which recognizes planned gifts and cumulative current giving of $100,000 or more to the university.
They previously endowed three scholarships for high-achieving chemical engineering undergraduates in the department’s Lindsay Scholars Program. The Gene L. Tromblee ’70 Graduate Study Area in the Jack E. Brown Building honors the couple’s $100,000 gift to help fund the building’s construction.
“The Tromblees are loyal and committed to Texas A&M, and their support of many programs proves that,” said Andy Acker, director of development for engineering with the Texas A&M Foundation. “This latest gift will help future Aggies become great former students and leaders in the field of chemical engineering. What a wonderful legacy the Tromblees are leaving.”
Story by Betsy Ellison, Engineering Development Office
