November 9, 1999
Contact: John Scarffe, KU Endowment, (785) 832-7336.
LAWRENCE -- A Kansas City, Mo., woman has remembered her late husband's education at the University of Kansas with a gift of $150,500 for engineering scholarships, Dean Carl E. Locke Jr. announced today.
Martha C. Lewis' gift of securities to the Kansas University Endowment Association established the Wilbur and Martha Lewis Engineering Scholarship Fund. Income from the fund will provide scholarships for engineering students who demonstrate both academic merit and financial need. Wilbur Lewis earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from KU in 1926. He died in 1991.
"Ever since he died, I wanted to make a gift to honor him," Martha Lewis said. "Of course, I chose KU because he graduated from there in engineering."
Martha Lewis, a Baylor University alumna, is a member of the KU Alumni Association and the Chancellors Club, KU Endowment's major-donor organization. She said she hopes the scholarships will help students who otherwise might not be able to attend college.
"We are grateful to Mrs. Lewis for establishing this fund in honor of her husband," Locke said. "Funds such as she has contributed allow the School of Engineering to attract and support a very high quality group of students. Alumni like the Lewises have been very generous to our scholarship program, which will continue to support students for years to come."
Wilbur Lewis, who grew up in Leavenworth, was a businessman and civic leader in the Kansas City area. He served in the U.S. Army as a captain in World War II. He founded Plastisigns Inc. in 1949 and earlier owned Railway Ice Co. He was president and trustee for the Kaw Council of the Boy Scouts of America. He was a campaign chairman and president of the Wyandotte County United Way.
He also was on the board of directors of the Visiting Nurses Association, a co-organizer and board member for Cancer Action Inc., president of the Kansas City, Kan., Rotary Club, a trustee of the Rotary Foundation, and a member of the board of Security National Bank.
"He had real concern for other people," Martha Lewis said.
The Lewises were married almost 26 years. They traveled widely together for Rotary and with the Flying Jayhawks alumni tours. Martha Lewis' son and Wilbur Lewis' stepson, A. Compton Reeves, graduated from KU with bachelor's and master's degrees in history. The Lewises' grandson Robert Smith graduated from KU in 1998 with a bachelor's degree in business.
The fund 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 Janet Majure