Dallas Entrepreneur key Donor for Business School
Michigan Campus to Name Building After Wyly, who Gave $10 Million

The Dallas Morning News
January 6, 1997


The Dallas season of giving, like those of most professional sports, goes on and on and on.

Perhaps you heard of the recent $10 million gift toward the construction of a building for the University of Michigan Business School by Dallas-based entrepreneur/investor Sam Wyly, who earned his MBA in 1957 at the home of the Wolverines.

For the record, it was the largest ever for the school's facilities and one of the two largest gifts ever made to the business school. The building will be named for Mr. Wyly.

Many here are familiar with his career path that first took him to IBM and Honeywell before he struck out on his own in the computer business by founding University Computing Co. in 1963 and later several other public companies.

He is currently governing stockholder and managing director of Sterling Software, Sterling Commerce, Maverick Capital and Michaels Stores, all based in Dallas.
He says, “I've been planning to do something for the business school for a while. With the school's programs ranked so highly, this is a good time. I like being part of and contributing to the whole story of the school's excellence and to help it continue.”

Dean B. Joseph White notes, “It is rare - in fact unprecedented at the school - to get so far toward a major facilities need with a single gift. This is a tremendously generous gift, and it comes to us at an important moment in the school's history.

“It's a gift that will truly make a difference, and I'm deeply grateful to Sam for the commitment and for helping fuel even greater success for the school.”

Mr. Wyly, according to a Michigan business school spokesman, “was personally recruited to attend Michigan by the legendary accounting professor William Paton, ... who taught at Michigan from 1917 to 1959.”

The professor also personally chose Mr. Wyly to receive the first Paton Scholarship.

The professor was a pioneer in developing modern accounting theory and practice and was a major reason for the school's early rise to prominence.

Actually, Dr. Paton first met his protégé while giving a lecture at Louisiana Tech, where Mr. Wyly was an undergraduate, and he was so impressed by the young student that he began recruiting the future entrepreneur on the spot.