Iowa entrepreneur John Pappajohn dies at age 94

IOWA CITY — One of Iowa’s most generous and notable philanthropists — gracing the name of buildings, centers and programs including the University of Iowa’s John Pappajohn Business Building — has died.

Pappajohn died April 22 at age 94.

His death is a “great loss,” UI Tippie College of Business Dean Amy Kristof-Brown said in a statement, and his legacy will far surpass the name on her college’s primary campus home.

“His story is at the heart of what we do and inspires us every day,” she said. “He lived the American dream, immigrating to the United States as a child, raising a family and using his intelligence and hard work to become a business leader. His is a success story we can all learn from.”

‘Leading business builder’

Pappajohn — who with this wife, Mary, has given more than $100 million to various philanthropic causes — was born in Greece in 1928 and immigrated to the United States at 9 months old with his mother.

He grew up in Mason City — where he had to repeat kindergarten due to the language barrier — and saw his world upended at age 16 when his father died, according to Pappajohn’s biography. He spent six years working his way through college, earning a UI bachelor’s degree in business in 1952.

After graduation, though, “he did not interview for a job.”

“He wanted to own his own business,” according to his biography.

Pappajohn established an insurance agency, eventually becoming chair of the board for Guardsman Insurance Investors — a public insurance holding company. In 1969, Pappajohn sold the enterprise for $100,000 and used the money to launch his own venture capital fund, Equity Dynamics.

Before venture capitalists were what they are today, Pappajohn was investing in start-ups — involving himself in more than 100 over the years and more than 50 initial public offerings of public stock.

Pappajohn served as director of more than 40 public companies, and his philanthropy has been recognized in the naming of UI’s main business building, the UI Hospitals and Clinics’ Pappajohn Pavilion, the John and Mary Pappajohn Clinical Cancer Center and UI’s Pappajohn Biomedical Institute Building.

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With more than $30 million, he organized and financed the John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Centers at five Iowa universities and colleges — the UI, Iowa State University, the University of Northern Iowa, Drake University and the North Iowa Area Community College. As of 2022, more than 421,000 people had participated in the programs statewide, including 161,092 at the UI. The centers have churned out more than 8,500 new businesses and 17,400 jobs.

At the time of their creation, Pappajohn said he aimed to revive Iowa’s entrepreneurial spirit following the farm crisis of the 1980s.

“I want to make Iowa the most entrepreneurial state in America,” he said.

In 1997, Pappajohn and his wife created a $5 million John and Mary Pappajohn Scholarship Fund for ethnic, disadvantaged and minority students; in 2001, he funded the NIACC Pappajohn Business Building in Mason City; and the couple committed $4 million to help finance the John and Mary Pappajohn Higher Education Center, a collaborative of seven universities and colleges in the state of Iowa.

“As one of the state’s leading business builders, John serves as a daily inspiration to Iowans who want to become entrepreneurs,” Kristof-Brown said in a statement. “I saw firsthand the passion he felt when he engaged with students, inspiring and guiding those who sought to follow his path.”

‘How can I help?’

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One such student-engagement experience came in fall of 2015, when Pappajohn spoke to a crowd of more than 1,000 during a homecoming week event at the University of Iowa. The largely student audience connected with Pappajohn instantly, hanging on advice like, “Philanthropy is a way of life.”

"If you incorporate it in your DNA, it becomes part of your persona,” he said.

At that event, Pappajohn told students he was motivated by his UI education to start giving back right away — although at the time he could afford only to give $5 as his first donation. His giving grew over time, of course, and he took the wealth he acquired to inspire students that day to start small, too.

Distributing envelopes of $10 each to every student in the house, Pappajohn instructed them to give it away and to keep giving $10 a year for five years.

“And I will match you,” he said, acknowledging they weren’t required to give the money back. “If you'd rather go to the Airliner and buy a beer, OK. But your conscience is going to bother you.”

Pappajohn’s giving has supported discovery and innovation, launching student, faculty and community entrepreneurs who have started hundreds of businesses, creating thousands of jobs.

“I dream a lot, I dream constantly,” Pappajohn said during his 2015 lecture. “I don’t have these wild dreams, I just dream about what I want to do and want to give away and what are my priorities in life.

"How can I help the world with the time I have left?”

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