Purdue business school receives another major donation
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Purdue University’s overhaul of Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business has received another major gift. The university said Thursday that Purdue alumnus Gerald Lyles and his wife, Nanette, will give $10 million in unrestricted support for the new school in a move thanking the university.
Gerald Lyles, a construction business executive, received the university’s Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award in 2018, is the president of Lyles United LLC and Lyles Investments LLC, and serves as chairman of the board and senior vice president of Lyles Diversified.
“It’s only natural that we give back to Purdue because the university has played such a big part in our success,” Gerald Lyles said in a press release. “We truly believe in the new direction Purdue is taking with the business school, and we want our gift to amplify the impact it can make for the facilities, faculty and students.”
The Lyles family gave $15 million in 2014 to name the Lyles School of Civil Engineering. They have also contributed to the Lyles Family Ideas to Innovation Learning Laboratory, the William M. Lyles Computational Laboratory and Lyles-Porter Hall. Gerald and Nanette Lyles were awarded the Purdue President’s Council Crystal Boilermaker Special for their philanthropy.
Last September, Purdue announced plans to reorganize its business school, including doubling the size of its existing building on the West Lafayette campus. In February, the university’s board of trustees approved naming the school after former president Mitch Daniels.
The donation is the latest in a string of big dollar donations including $50 million for the Bruce White Undergraduate Institute, $10 million to establish the Blake Family Center for Ethics, $10 million for the Larsen Leaders Academy and $4 million for the Raytheon Technologies Chair, among several others.