$100,000 pledge to endow scholarship

A $100,000 pledge from a former Mississippi State professor will endow a scholarship fund begun several years ago in memory of his father.

Robert Rundel of San Rafael, Calif., who taught physics here for 11 years, began supporting the Stan Rundel Memorial Scholarship in 1993 with $25,000 annual gifts.

Half of his most recent five-year commitment of $100,000 has been designated to sustain the scholarships already in existence in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. The remainder will permanently endow the Stan Rundel Memorial Scholarship Fund.

The gift makes Rundel a member of the university's Eugene Butler Fellows major donor group.

Rundel also has contributed $20,000 to the department to furnish a study room for students that is now known as the Stan Rundel Reading Room.

Robert Rundel came to Mississippi State in 1980 after working with NASA in Houston. He became a full professor in the department of physics and astronomy before leaving the university in 1991 to enter the computer software industry in California.

His wife, Joanne Gordon, was the owner of Joanne's Kitchen Shop in Starkville from 1981-90.

"My father visited the university several times while I was at Mississippi State and became very fond of the university and the state," Rundel said. "I thought the scholarship fund and the Rundel Reading Room would be a fitting tribute to him."

In 1993, an $18,000 donation from Rundel helped the Boys and Girls Club of West Point purchase a van to transport children to various activities. "Stan's Van" is named in memory of Rundel's father. Ms. Gordon is a former member of the board of directors of the club.

A native of California, Rundel holds a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College and a Ph.D. from the University of Washington, both in physics.

The late Stan Rundel was an electrical engineer who established and sold several companies during his lifetime.