April 18, 2000
Contact: John Scarffe, KU Endowment Association, (785) 832-7336.
LAWRENCE--A University of Kansas School of Engineering alumnus and his wife have given $35,000 to memorialize his brother, Dean Carl E. Locke Jr. announced today.
Roland P. and Lorraine Polson Loewen of Baytown, Texas, gave cash to the Kansas University Endowment Association for the unrestricted use of the engineering school. The gift established the Bruno F. Loewen Fund in honor of Roland Loewen's brother. Unrestricted funds allow KU administrators to take advantage of unexpected opportunities. The gifts can be used for many purposes, including the funding of scholarships, providing materials for faculty and buying state-of-the-art equipment.
"We are extremely thankful for the generous gift provided by the Loewens," Locke said. "Funds such as they have provided will allow us to support faculty projects which would not be possible through state funding. The unrestricted nature of the gift makes it extremely valuable and allows us to support the highest needs we have."
The Loewen brothers grew up on a family farm near Newton. Bruno Loewen attended Bethel College in Newton and Kansas State University. When he could no longer afford school, he moved to Peoria, Ill., to work in an earth-moving equipment factory. He later returned to Kansas and received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from KU in 1948. For the next 34 years, he worked as an engineer for Phillips Petroleum Company in Texas, Brazil and England before retiring to Athens, Ga. Loewen and his wife, Tessibel, had five children. He died in March 1999.
Roland Loewen received a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from KU in 1941. While at KU, he met and married KU undergraduate Lorraine Polson, who was raised in Lawrence. After graduation, the couple moved to Alabama, where he worked for Monsanto, and later to Tennessee, where he worked at Tennessee Products. After settling in Texas, he worked for the Tenn-Tex Alloy Corporation. He retired as vice president of the company in 1987 and now owns a small gold refinery in Texas.
The Loewens are members of the KU Alumni Association, the Chancellors Club and the Elizabeth Watkins Society. Roland Loewen also is a member of the Gold Medal Club.