Helen Henderson led a life of firsts. The late Henderson was a member of the first graduating class in 1915 of what was then Bowling Green Normal School. The school’s goal at the time was to train elementary school teachers. Not only was she a member of that first class, a feat in itself during...

The late Gus Skibbie’s careers ranged from teacher to sports official to mayor. As a student at Bowling Green Normal College, he won 14 letters in football, basketball, track and tennis – a school record that still stands.After graduating and getting his master’s from Columbia University,...

The late Doyt Perry can be considered the patron saint of BGSU football. Before he graduated in 1932, he had lettered nine times in football, basketball and baseball. After graduation, he started coaching high school basketball and track, before beginning a football team at Lorain Clearview. In...

Bill Primrose’s relationship with BGSU didn’t end with graduation. He is director of emeritus of the Foundation Board and established the William J. Primrose Scholarship, among others. He has also served on the University Development Council, Foundation Board of Directors, Alumni Association...

Eva Marie Saint has become an icon in the theatrical world. She has appeared in more than 40 films since starting in show business in the early 1950s. Her most notable roles include “On the Waterfront,” for which she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1954. Saint also played the mother...

Ashel Bryan has been a business and community leader since he graduated from BGSU in 1946. Bryan joined the locally owned Mid-American National Bank, serving as chairman and CEO from 1950 to 1985. During this time, he and his late wife Dorothy helped develop the city, region and state. One of...

Otto Schoeppler’s life work has been to unite Germany and America through commerce. A graduate of BGSU in 1947, his studies were interrupted by nearly three years of military service. During World War II, he served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army in Europe and was awarded the Bronze Star,...

Carroll Cheek has done a little bit of everything in the business world. He was a senior partner in Cheek & Company, certified public accountants in Ohio and Illinois. Before retiring, he was involved with dozens of businesses. He was chairman of CWC Companies, whose affiliates include Great...

Frank Dick has served local school children through his 28 years of leading school systems in Northwest Ohio. He began his education career in 1950 as superintendent of 180 students in the Portage Township Schools. He moved to Pandora-Gilboa School District, Sylvania City Schools and then Toledo...

Frank Dick has served local school children through his 28 years of leading school systems in Northwest Ohio. He began his education career in 1950 as superintendent of 180 students in the Portage Township Schools. He moved to Pandora-Gilboa School District, Sylvania City Schools and then Toledo...

Chuck Shanklin served as chairman on the board of Crestview Aerospace Corp. in Florida before his death in 2009. He grew the company from 13 employees to more than 1,200 employees in 2005 before it was sold. For Shanklin, the Falcon roots were deep. Five of his six children attended or graduated...

Chuck Kurfess has spent more than 50 years serving Ohio. After serving in the Army Counter Intelligence Corps during the Korean Conflict, he returned to earn his juris doctor degree from The Ohio State University. He practiced law in Wood County from 1958-91 and was elected judge of the Court of...

David Anderson retired from academic career in American literature, but continues to write for other people’s enjoyment. Anderson earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from BGSU, and then earned his doctorate from Michigan State University, where he was a professor for 33 years. In...

Ollie Glass’ love of football followed him throughout his life. The late Glass graduated from Elyria High School where he excelled in golf, baseball, basketball, and football. While at school, he lettered in football and played center and linebacker positions. He was the first black athlete at...

Keeping Ohio healthy has been a big part of Albert Dyckes’ life. After serving as an Army sergeant and high school social studies teacher, he became the deputy director of the Ohio Department of Health in 1963. He then became the associate coordinator of the Ohio Regional Medical Program at...

Nick Mileti is still a big part of BGSU years after his graduation. He is considered one of the founders of the BGSU Cleveland alumni chapter and was one of the first major donors to the BGSU. Mileti has also made his mark on his hometown of Cleveland. During his career as a prosecutor and...

Ned Baker began his career of keeping the public healthy as chief sanitarian for the Wood County Health Department. He later worked as director of the Northwest Ohio AHEC Program at the Medical College of Ohio. Baker has received several awards for his public health service and has a master’s...

William Evans is a world-renowned marine mammal acoustician and ecologist. He was one of the first scientists to work with the United States Navy’s Marine Mammal Program in the 1960's. During his 10 years with the program, his research area was marine mammal communication and echolocation. The...

Harold McGrady spent more than 45 years studying and teaching in the areas of communication disorders and learning disabilities. He most recently served as executive director of the Division for Learning Disabilities, a national organization that is part of the International Council for...

The late Chuck Perry was a play-maker and rainmaker for BGSU. He was a member of the football team for four years, and after graduation, served as an admissions counselor, director of admissions and assistant to the president. He was also the first director of development at BGSU. Perry was...

Edward Ferkany started out a teacher, but became a business leader. After graduating, he taught high school science and coached football. He worked as an assistant football coach at Western Michigan University, the United States Naval Academy and The Ohio State University before joining...

Dr. Jimmy Light is an organ transplant pioneer. He trained in surgery, transplantation and immunology at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and became a member of the newly formed transplant program there in 1971. In 1977, he was appointed professor of surgery at the Uniformed Services University of...

John Voorhees is a leading professor and researcher in dermatology, focusing on psoriasis and premature aging. He is a distinguished professor at the University of Michigan Medical School, where he is chair of the dermatology department. Vorhees and his colleagues have unraveled the mechanisms by...

Bernie Casey is an artist, athlete and actor. After attending BGSU on a football scholarship, he was selected by the San Francisco 49ers as the ninth draft pick in the first round of the 1961 draft – the highest a BGSU player has ever been drafted in the NFL. He also played for the Los Angeles...

James Karugu attended college because his father sold some land for a one-way ticket to BGSU. One of the first African students at BGSU, he became president of the International Students Society. He also won an athletic scholarship after being challenged to race across Rodgers Quadrangle. Karugu...

If Edward Reiter’s community needs him, he is there. Reiter, retired senior chairman of Sky Financial Group, has been involved with dozens of boards and capital campaigns in Northwest Ohio. He served on the BGSU Alumni and Foundation boards, the Toledo Community Foundation Board and the Toledo...

Thomas Gouttierre is an expert on Afghanistan. He lived and worked for almost 10 years in Afghanistan before becoming dean of International Studies and Programs at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. While in Afghanistan, he served as a Peace Corps volunteer, a Fulbright Fellow and coached the...

William Carl was one of the founders of the Golden Corral restaurant chain. After graduating from BGSU, he moved to Florida to work for Burroughs Corp., where he met North Carolina native James Maynard. The two opened a family steakhouse in Fayetteville in 1972 called Golden Steer, later renamed...

Ron Van Lieu has helped generations of actors perfect their craft. After graduating from BGSU, he attended the graduate theater program at the University of Iowa and later became a resident actor at Vassar College. In 1975, he began teaching in the graduate acting program at New York...

Otto Schoeppler’s life work has been to unite Germany and America through commerce. A graduate of BGSU in 1947, his studies were interrupted by nearly three years of military service. During World War II, he served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army in Europe and was awarded the Bronze Star,...

Nick Mileti is still a big part of BGSU years after his graduation. He is considered one of the founders of the BGSU Cleveland alumni chapter and was one of the first major donors to the BGSU. Mileti has also made his mark on his hometown of Cleveland. During his career as a prosecutor and...

Crystal Ellis is a longtime Toledo educator and leader. From 1957-69, he served as an educational director at the Toledo YMCA. In 1969, he began teaching and coaching career at Libbey High School. By the time he retired in 1996, he had become the superintendent of Toledo Public Schools, the first...

The late Chuck Perry was a play-maker and rainmaker for BGSU. He was a member of the football team for four years, and after graduation, served as an admissions counselor, director of admissions and assistant to the president. He was also the first director of development at BGSU. Perry was...

Steve Demos is bringing soy to the masses. After graduating, he started a natural nut butter company and operated a retail vegetarian deli called The Cow of China. In 1977, he made his first patch of tofu using money he borrowed to start White Wave Tofu. For the next 20 years, the company made...

Jack Hayes works as the director of the National Weather Service, part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He oversees more than 4,500 employees responsible for weather forecasts and warnings for the country. He also played a key role in orchestrating the service’s response...

Brenda Joyce Hollis has always tried to keep the peace. She was appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General to be the prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone. She also serves as the principal trial attorney, presenting the case against former President Charles Taylor, who is...

John F. Meier has been chairman and chief executive officer of Libbey Inc. since the company went public in 1993. He served as vice president of Owens-Illinois and executive vice president and general manager of its subsidiary, Libbey Glass. Meier is also a director of Applied Industrial...

Betty Montgomery has had a career of firsts. She was Ohio’s first woman attorney general and auditor of state. When elected Wood County prosecutor, she was the only female prosecutor in the state. As prosecutor, she directed a 250 percent increase in felony conviction rate. As state senator,...

Phil Weller is a well-known real estate practitioner in Texas. As managing partner of DLA Piper’s Dallas Office, he has been involved in structuring equity investment, forming REITs, financials development and acquisitions, among other duties. Weller has been named a top real estate lawyer by...

Eva Marie Saint has become an icon in the theatrical world. She has appeared in more than 40 films since starting in show business in the early 1950s. Her most notable roles include “On the Waterfront,” for which she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in 1954. Saint also played the mother...

Ashel Bryan has been a business and community leader since he graduated from BGSU in 1946. Bryan joined the locally owned Mid-American National Bank, serving as chairman and CEO from 1950 to 1985. During this time, he and his late wife Dorothy helped develop the city, region and state. One of...

Carroll Cheek has done a little bit of everything in the business world. He was a senior partner in Cheek & Company, certified public accountants in Ohio and Illinois. Before retiring, he was involved with dozens of businesses. He was chairman of CWC Companies, whose affiliates include Great...

William Evans is a world-renowned marine mammal acoustician and ecologist. He was one of the first scientists to work with the United States Navy’s Marine Mammal Program in the 1960's. During his 10 years with the program, his research area was marine mammal communication and echolocation. The...

David Kennedy parlayed an on-air announcing gig into cutting-edge entertainment technology. Kennedy is the CEO of Flycast Inc., founded in 2006 to create advanced IP-based mobile delivery technology for smartphones and other mobile digital media devices. Prior to Flycast, he was CEO/vice...

Kevin Webb has been a medical professional and expert in health care administration for more than 25 years. He is president of Flower Hospital in Sylvania, as well as president of The Toledo Hospital and Toledo Children’s Hospital. As president of ProMedica Health System’s largest acute care...

Richard Nedelkoff had had a long and distinguished role in public service, including appointments by several governors and the U.S. president. He was appointed to oversee 26 federal criminal justice grant programs and a $6 billion funding portfolio. Nedelkoff has provided consulting services to...

Shawn Ulreich has spent her career providing leadership to various health care organizations. As chief nurse executive and vice president of patient care services for Spectrum Health Hospital Group, she is responsible for nursing practice at four hospitals and associated urgent care centers and...

Eugene Sanders is a nationally recognized leader in urban school leadership. He is the CEO of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and oversees the education of more than 50,000 students. Before that, Sanders worked as superintendent of Toledo Public Schools. Sanders, a former tenured...

Mary Minnick is a partner of Lion Capital, a leading private equity firm that focuses on consumer-based companies. Before joining Lion Capital, Minnick was an executive with The Coca-Cola Company for 23 years. She served in positions that ranged from general management to marketing. She also...

Crystal Ellis is a longtime Toledo educator and leader. From 1957-69, he served as an educational director at the Toledo YMCA. In 1969, he began teaching and coaching career at Libbey High School. By the time he retired in 1996, he had become the superintendent of Toledo Public Schools, the first...

Hiroko Nakamoto is an international designer whose works are influenced by her native Japan. After receiving her bachelor’s in fine arts from BGSU, she studied interior design at Pratt Institute in New York. After studying interior design in England, France, Italy, Germany, Lebanon and Iran,...

Arnold Rampersad has made it his life’s work to tell the African-American story through the lens of a biography. His biographies include “The Art and Imagination of W.E.B. Du Bois,” “The Life of Langston Hughes,” and “Jackie Robinson: A Biography, and Ralph Ellison: A Biography.” Rampersad grew...

Eugene Sanders is a nationally recognized leader in urban school leadership. He is the CEO of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and oversees the education of more than 50,000 students. Before that, Sanders worked as superintendent of Toledo Public Schools. Sanders, a former tenured...

Eileen O’Neill is the president and general manager of The Learning Channel. O’Neill ended up at Discovery Communications, the parent company of TLC, because of an internship requirement for BGSU’s popular culture graduate degree. Under her leadership, TLC has added popular reality series,...

Hugh Smith is one of America’s most recognized tenors, having performed at all the big houses in the United States and many important venues in Europe. He made his debut in “Madame Butterfly” in Naples, Italy, after winning the Pavarotti competition in 1995. He has worked under the direction...

Anthony Doerr is an award-winning author who fondly recalls evening readings in Prout Chapel. His 2002 collection of short stories, “The Shell Collector,” won the Barnes & Noble Discovery Prize, two O. Henry Prizes and the Rome Prize, among other awards. He wrote “About Grace,” featuring...

David Anderson retired from academic career in American literature, but continues to write for other people’s enjoyment. Anderson earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from BGSU, and then earned his doctorate from Michigan State University, where he was a professor for 33 years. In...

Ned Baker began his career of keeping the public healthy as chief sanitarian for the Wood County Health Department. He later worked as director of the Northwest Ohio AHEC Program at the Medical College of Ohio. Baker has received several awards for his public health service and has a master’s...

Bob Thompson believes in sharing the wealth. He is the retired president and former owner of the Thompson-McCully Company, Michigan’s largest asphalt and paving contracting company. In 1991, he sold the company for $422 million. After the sale, he gave $128 million of his gains to his 550...

Thomas Gouttierre is an expert on Afghanistan. He lived and worked for almost 10 years in Afghanistan before becoming dean of International Studies and Programs at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. While in Afghanistan, he served as a Peace Corps volunteer, a Fulbright Fellow and coached the...

Mary Wolfe helps companies understand art. Wolfe is responsible for the look and feel of corporate properties as a corporate art consultant and interior designer for Kingston HealthCare Company. In 1968, she began her academic career as BGSU as an art instructor, teaching classes that included...

Jon Frederic West has established himself as the world’s foremost interpreter of the title role of Tristan in “Trista and Isolde” and both Siegrieds in “Wagner’s Ring of the Niebelung.” He recently sang the cycle at The Metropolitan Opera under the baton of maestro James Levine. West...

Martina Hanulova considers herself a citizen of the world. She came to the United States as an exchange student at Rossford High School. She returned to Northwest Ohio to study French and international studies at BGSU. During that time, she found her niche: world peace. Her travels have included...