Cedar Rapids couple donates $50,000 to Cornell College

MOUNT VERNON - A Cedar Rapids couple, both Cornell College graduates, have pledged $50,000 to Cornell's fundraising campaign.

Gilda and Barry Boyer, both 1984 graduates, committed the unrestricted gift as part of Cornell's Extraordinary Opportunities campaign. The gift will be used where it is most needed by the college, officials said.

Gilda, a retired attorney, serves on the Cornell board of trustees, works with the Iowa Legal Aid Foundation and has chaired numerous area boards. The Boyers are incoming co-chairpersons of the United Way of East Central Iowa campaign.

Barry is president and CEO of Van Meter Industrial and a member of the advisory board of Cornell's Berry Center for Economics, Business and Public Policy. He is the chairman-elect of the board of Priority One, the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City economic development group.