University of Iowa donor Henry B. Tippie repaid for ‘benefits received’

IOWA CITY - As a rural farm boy attending the University of Iowa on the G.I. Bill in the 1940s, Henry B. Tippie described himself as a 'total unknown.”

'I didn't join any organizations,” he said. 'I wasn't invited to join any. I was absolutely unknown.”

When Tippie graduated in 1949 with a bachelor's degree in accounting, he said he had no job, few prospects, and resorted to scanning the yellow pages for employment options.

'But I did have one thing,” Tippie said. 'I had a foundation.”

Sixty-five years later, Tippie has become one of the UI's most accomplished and generous alumni and donors. But, Tippie told a crowd of hundreds Thursday on the UI campus, his philanthropy started with a $5 gift to the university based on a simple but firmly-held belief.

'I feel very strongly about repaying for benefits received,” he said.

Tippie spoke to the packed auditorium in the Iowa Memorial Union as part of the campus' third annual 'Phil's Day.” The event aims to educate students and the campus community about philanthropy and its benefits in hopes of creating future philanthropists and fundraisers.

Members of the UI Foundation's Student Philanthropy Group spent the day peppering the campus with signs, ribbons and bows to symbolize projects, buildings and programs that have received donor support. The group also passed out 'I Am Phil” stickers and invited students, faculty and staff to sign thank-you notes to donors.

Tippie, for whom the UI's Henry B. Tippie College of Business is named, delivered the event's keynote address by sharing stories about his life, career and why it long has been marked by giving.

He grew up on a farm and, in his early years, was educated in a one-room schoolhouse. He graduated in 1944 from Belle Plaine High School and served during World War II in the 20th Air Force in the South Pacific. Upon his return from military duty, Tippie said he got into the UI on the G.I. Bill - something he otherwise wouldn't have been able to do.

'I am the recipient of someone giving me a chance to go here,” he said.

He was admitted on a probationary status and was on a waitlist for a room in a residence hall. He majored in accounting and wanted to get out of school as fast as possible, he told Thursday's crowd.

Upon graduation, he got a job as a junior accountant in the Des Moines area, passed the CPA exam in 1951 and has been a member of the Iowa Society of CPAs and the American Institute of CPAs for more than 60 years.

Through his work with Rollins and Associates, he helped orchestrate the company's purchase of Orkin Exterminating Company. That move was considered to be the first leveraged buyout of its kind in U.S. corporate history, and today it serves as a case study at Harvard Business School.

Tippie made his first donation to the UI in 1953 - it was $5. A few years later, he established his first UI scholarships, sparking decades of support.

On Thursday, during his address, Tippie proposed an initiative to get all of the UI's more than 31,000 undergraduate, graduate and professional students to give $5.

'That represents the first amount I paid,” he said.

Although that might seem like 'crumbs” in the grand scheme of UI fundraising, Tippie said crumbs, can produce a slice and then a loaf.

'That's my $5 theory,” he said.

Tippie credited the university for providing a launchpad for his success, and he encouraged the students who gathered to listen to him Thursday to do the same.

'I'm always mystified that people get a foundation and then they leave the university and never think about what gave them their opportunities,” he said. 'You are the future Phils.”

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