Donor Testimonials

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Lee Kearney

    The Bridge Builder:

    Lee Kearney, Oregon State ‘59

  • Building bridges can be a metaphor for some and a career for others. For Lee Kearney, Oregon State ‘59, it has been both. Since retiring from his accomplished career in civil engineering, Kearney has helped lead major fundraising initiatives for his alma mater and Acacia Fraternity.

  • "It was an obvious decision to help Acacia because I knew the money would be used wisely and that our chapters need this type of program to address their fundamental needs," states Kearney.

  • Lee has recent firsthand experience with chapter operations through serving as chairman of a successful capital campaign to renovate the Oregon State chapter house as well as spending much time on OSU’s campus for university-related initiatives.

  • "My experience these past few years has convinced me that university and college administrations are not giving significant support to fraternities," summarizes Kearney. "The national fraternity is best positioned to help our undergraduates but needs resources to provide stronger fraternity programs to help at the chapter level."

  • From an initial meeting with New Century Campaign Co-Chair L. Dennis Smith, Lee agreed to serve on the task force that led to the creation of the Cornerstones program. Once the initial program was designed, Lee and his wife, Connie, agreed to donate $200,000 over two years through the Acacia Fraternity Foundation to help fund the pilot phase.

  • With Oregon State as one of the initial six pilot chapters, Lee and Connie are seeing the results of their philanthropic support firsthand. Since its implementation, Lee has noticed that Cornerstones has helped recruit a stronger group of Acacia pledges – a trend that he hopes will continue.

  • "Connie and I made this gift because we believe in Acacia Fraternity and its relevance to today’s students," states Kearney, "I want to encourage every brother to think back to his years as an undergraduate Acacian and start giving back in proportion to the benefits received."