January 19, 1999
The gift to the Kansas University Endowment Association came from the Curry Foundation, located in Washington, D.C., through the efforts of Charles E. and Charlotte Curry of Salem, S.C., and Key Largo, Fla. The couple donated $10,000 to establish the Frank Bangs Memorial Classroom Fund, in memory of Frank Bangs, a longtime friend and former fraternity brother of Charles Curry. Another $40,000 has been pledged by the Curry Foundation. Charles Curry is the chair of the board of the foundation, and Charlotte Curry is president.
"We are delighted that Mr. Curry has initiated such generous gifts in memory of Frank Bangs since they kick off an important initiative to create a computer teaching classroom for foreign languages and the humanities at the University of Kansas," Comer said.
"It is so appropriate that Frank Bangs' name will be connected with such a classroom since he was a longtime pioneer in the state of Kansas for using audiovisual equipment to teach foreign languages. In fact, you could say that Frank Bangs is already part of the Academic Resource Center in Wescoe Hall since we see his company's logo on a number of major AV systems still in use at the lab."
Frank Bangs graduated from KU in 1940 with a degree in business administration. During World War II, he served as a Naval officer in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters and became a Navy pilot. He was president and CEO of Frank Bangs Co., Inc., Wichita, and a pioneer in using audiovisual equipment as an educational tool. Frank Bangs was involved in establishing language laboratories in many Kansas high schools and universities.
He was a longtime donor to KU Endowment along with his wife, Margaret Wilson Bangs, who earned two degrees in English from KU, a bachelor's degree in 1939 and a master's degree in 1947. She was also elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Frank Bangs died in May 1998.
Charles E. Curry was born in 1918 and received his bachelor's degree from KU in 1940. At KU, he and Frank Bangs were roommates and both members of Phi Delta Theta. Charles Curry was also Phi Beta Kappa. He served as a lieutenant in the Navy from 1942 to 1945.
A member of the Missouri Commission for Commerce and Industry, Charles Curry also served for eight years as the presiding judge of the county court in Jackson County, Mo. He was president of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce in 1975-76.
Charles Curry also spent much of his career in banking. He has been a president, chair of the board, or member of the board of several banks. He was also director of the Federal Home Loan Bank in Des Moines, Iowa. Also serving as president of the Charles F. Curry and Company and the Curry Investment Company, Curry later became treasurer of the Democratic National Committee in the 1980s. Charles Curry is also a life member of the Kansas Alumni Association.
The gift will be administered by the KU Endowment Association, an independent, nonprofit organization serving as the official fund-management foundation for the University of Kansas. Founded in 1891, the KU Endowment Association is the oldest foundation of its type at a public university in the United States and one of the largest.
Story by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg