Bloomfield Township couple gives $10 million to Oakland University

Longtime Oakland University supporters Donna and Walt Young are giving $10 million to the school, which will name its Honors College after them.

Their gift is the latest of many they’ve given to the school and ranks among the largest in OU history.

“We have a jewel right here in Oakland County that people don’t recognize,” Walt Young said. “It was only established in 1957 but it has become a major force in many fields.”

Neither of the Youngs attended OU, though they have a grandson earning a master’s degree there now. Walt Young grew up in Pittsburgh and Donna Young in nearby Washington, Pennsylvania. They met at Muskingham University, a small liberal arts college in southwest Ohio.

“Both my wife and I were trained to serve people,” he said. “I was a preacher’s kid. She was just trained in western Pennsylvania values to give back.”

OU President Ora Hirsch Pescovitz thanked the couple for the gift and those that preceded.

“Donna and Walt Young are the epitome of OU’s most passionate advocates and supporters,” she said. “They are humble in their service to our students and through the impact they make in the community around them.”

Walt Young had a successful corporate career that began in tire business and ended in the housing. He served as CEO of Champion Homes, headquartered in Troy. The couple moved to Michigan in 1983 and as their wealth grew they wanted to use it to help others.

It started with a small family foundation that focused on supporting efforts like soup kitchens and food pantries in Pontiac and later Detroit. Walt Young served on the board of Gleaners Community Food Bank, and eventually chaired that board.

OU had a foundation that needed board members and Young was a natural choice.

“Champion and Chrysler were the only public companies at that time that were nearby,” Walt Young said. “So they drafted me to be on the foundation board and I became chairman of it.”

He got to see the school up close and his wife did, too. For years, the couple sponsored Martin Luther King Day Keeper of the Dream scholarship event. Walt Young said that in the early 1990s, the Honors College at OU was barely functioning and he wanted to see it grow. One way to help was through the school’s study abroad program.

“We are firm believers that an abroad experience broadens the individual in empathy and in confidence,” Walt Young said.

To date, 269 students who’ve traveled abroad to enhance their education with help from the Walt Young Study Abroad Endowed Scholarship Fund.

“They have gifted us more than a name,” said Honors College Dean Graeme Harper. “They have supported a vision that will change the lives of every student who walks through these doors.”

Walt Young said he trusts Harper to make good use of the gift.

“We have no say and I didn’t want any say,” Young said. “Graeme can do what he wants; his staff, new programs, speakers. His goal is to make it the best honors school in the country and I got to tell you, I wouldn’t sell him short.”

Walt Young said he and his wife are confident their gift will be well spent because of the leadership of Pescovitz and Harper. He considers Pescovitz a kindred spirit because of her commitment to community service. He admires Harper for the way he runs the Honors College, growing its enrollment and impact.

“She has spread service as a major value to all the students,” Walt Young said of Pescovitz. “So in addition to having competence in their fields, she feels that it’s a better value, for leaders in their lifetime, to have that service component. That rings so true with Donna and myself.”

The Youngs have two grown children who live in the area and they are on board with the gift as well. Walt Young, 81, said they could have left the gift in their will, but wanted to see it make a difference.

They argued over whose name should go first. Walt Young won that argument, so Donna Young’s name will appear first.

“Enjoy the joy of giving while you’re alive,” Walt Young said. “It’s real and it’s good. It’s a win/win on both sides, both those who give and those who receive and it makes you better for it.”