Donors give $800,000 for Trine projects

T. Furth Performing Arts Center getting concert hall

Trine University supporters have donated over $800,000 for building projects, including $500,000 for the T. Furth Center for Performing Arts.

Angola native Cliff Ryan, now of Worchester, Ohio, and Naples, Fla., graduated from Tri-State College in 1966 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration-accounting. The gift from Ryan and his wife, Sigrid, will help refurbish the T. Furth Center for Performing Arts, the former Angola Christian Church, which the university acquired in spring 2008. Their contribution will establish the center’s Ryan Concert Hall.

Lifelong business owners, the Ryans have supported the university for many years, including contributing funds to the Vern Jones Scholarship, from which Cliff benefitted as a TSC student.  

The couple wished to support the project because of the interaction it creates between the university and its community, said Ray Stuckey, Vice President for Alumni & Development. “This is a major contribution to the center’s refurbishment, and we’re thankful for their support,” Stuckey said.

The estate of Tri-State University Trustee and former Angola business owner Carl A. Strock has provided $308,000 for the university’s Zollner Stadium now in the planning stages. Strock passed away on Feb. 29, 2008.

The owner of Strock’s, a men’s clothing store in downtown Angola, he served on the Tri-State University Board of Trustees from 1979-1988. He and his wife, Doris, who survives in Pennsylvania, were avid golfers and long-term members of the university’s Zollner Golf Course. He has been recognized by the university as a Lifetime Donor for Annual Fund contributions and other donations of over $500,000.

“It is difficult to express our gratitude for such faithful giving by the university’s alumni and friends,” said Trine University President Earl D. Brooks II. “We are blessed by supporters like these who continue to demonstrate their belief in our vision for Trine University’s future.”