CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Lee University hosted a luncheon Tuesday to honor its major benefactors, Richard and Helen DeVos, plus other community supporters.
It was the leadoff event for Friday’s Celebration 2010, which marks the completion of a five-year, $34 million Press Towards The Mark capital campaign that has brought an array of buildings, academic programs and a steady student population growth at Lee.
Hundreds of guests, alumni and community supporters have been invited for Friday’s celebration, closing Lee’s most successful capital campaign in its history.
Tuesday’s luncheon was held in the university’s new 73,000-square-foot Science-Math Complex.
Lee President Paul Conn said local corporate leaders conducted a “very quiet, very effective fund-raising campaign” to help pay for the building.
He called the DeVoses, who live in Michigan, “a major catalyst in the expansion and development” of the campus for the past 20 years.
“There always seems to be another project,” Conn told the audience. “I don’t expect that to change any time soon.”
Richard DeVos, whose Amway Corp. has been a Lee supporter for many years, talked about the simple things people can say to each other to make the world better.
DeVos reviewed statements such as “I’m wrong and I’m sorry,” “You can do it,” and “I love you,” which are included in his new book, “Ten Powerful Phrases for Positive People.”
“I would encourage you to think of the phrases you use and their impact on people,” he said.
DeVos and Jay Van Andel were co-founders of Amway Corp. in 1959 in Grand Rapids, Mich. DeVos owns the NBA basketball Orlando Magic franchise, among other business interests. He is listed annually in Forbes magazine as one of America’s 50 wealthiest citizens.
Lee’s Helen DeVos College of Education honors his wife, a former elementary school teacher.
Contact Randall Higgins at rhiggins@timesfreepress.com or 423-314-1029.