Securing A Brother’s Legacy
Though Gary Iverson passed away before his philanthropic work at SDSU was complete, his brothers are picking up where he left off.
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A car full of Christmas gifts. This is among the earliest memories brothers Bill and Jim Iverson have of their oldest brother, Gary.
“He went off to Minneapolis to work for a computer company, and he brought home a gift for everyone. Mine was a red bike,” recalled Jim, who was 10 at the time.
“There were 10 of us kids, so we didn’t have a lot of money, and we did not necessarily get too many presents at Christmastime,” added Bill, who was 14. “I can still remember he had a whole carload of wrapped presents.”
It was Christmas 1958, and Gary Iverson was just 22. He had recently graduated from South Dakota State University with an electrical engineering degree and landed a good job in the burgeoning computer industry. His first thought was to share his success with his family.
The second of 10 children born to Marvin and Viola Iverson, it is memories like these that are the reason Gary is remembered by family (pictured below) for his career success and generosity.
Bill IversonWhen I think of Gary, he was probably one of the most intelligent people I ever met, and his generosity was beyond what you would expect.
“Gary was always on the lookout for ways to help out friends and family,” Jim added. “If someone needed money, he was the person who stepped in and helped them out.”
Throughout his lifetime, Gary offered to help nieces and nephews pay for school. He offered to cover medical expenses. Gary bought his parents a home and helped finance his brother’s restaurant business.
In 2021, Gary began talking with his brothers about providing for future Jackrabbits. “Gary sent me a flyer he received from the SDSU Foundation and asked me what I thought. I told him it looked like a really good idea,” Jim said. “The week prior to his passing, we met with the SDSU Foundation to discuss using his IRA to fund the scholarship.”
In his later years, conversations about giving between Gary and his younger brothers, Bill and Jim, were common because he asked them to serve as executors of his estate. Before the paperwork was complete in October 2021, Gary died unexpectedly due to complications following a heart attack. “Prior to Gary passing away, he talked to Jimmie and me, and he said he wanted to give back to SDSU,” Bill said.
To honor Gary’s legacy of generous giving and his wishes to support future generations of SDSU students, Jim and Bill worked with the SDSU Foundation to fund the Gary J. Iverson Family Scholarship utilizing funds they inherited from Gary.
“Jimmie and I knew what he wanted, and we certainly were going to carry out his wishes,” Bill explained.
Gary’s wishes revolved around the next generation of Jackrabbits. Helping students cover tuition costs was top of mind for him as he finalized his estate plans because, as his brother, Jim, puts it, “Gary was a realist.”
“He realized he would not be where he ended up had it not been for the education he received at SDSU,” Jim said.
Of the 10 Iverson children, Gary was the first of seven to attend SDSU. Jim credits their mom with the fact that all the siblings went on to further their education after high school. He explained that ensuring her children received a college education was the reason his parents moved the family from the rural community of Miranda to Brookings when Gary was going into his freshman year of high school.
“As a former school teacher, Mother knew that with our family’s limited financial resources, if we lived in Brookings where State College was, we would have a better chance of attending,” Jim said. “She and dad were products of the Depression. They knew that education was key to our generation.”
It was 1949 when the large family moved into a small house in Brookings, making for a humble start to Gary’s pursuit of higher education. As a young teen, he got a job working for Sturdevant Electric. It’s a job he kept all through high school and college.
“Gary could fix anything,” Bill said. “He used to take motors apart and fix them – he could just figure things out.”
Bill thinks working for Sturdevant led Gary to pursue a degree in electrical engineering. His brothers said while he was at SDSU, Gary’s natural charisma meant he made friends easily. His senior year, Gary was selected to serve as Chair of the Engineering Department’s HOBO Day Float Committee.
“Gary had fun and worked hard. He had a lot of friends,” Bill said. “The group of friends he made in high school and college pretty much stuck together and remained friends throughout his life.”
After graduating from SDSU, a successful career in computers awaited Gary. He rose through the ranks of several Twin City-area computer companies. He has patents in his name, and Jim said he heard that Gary was once called upon by NASA for help.
“I was told that, during one of the Apollo missions, something went wrong with the onboard computer, and Gary was the one who actually ended up correcting the problem,” Jim said.
Gary retired in 1993 as the Vice President of Engineering, Drafting, and Computer Design for the National Cash Register-Comten Company.
Throughout his successful career, Gary prioritized time with friends and family.
“Uncle Gary taught my girls how to fly fish,” Bill said. “After he retired, he would come up to Alaska and spend nearly every summer here with us. My kids thought the world of him.”
Jim recalled another story Gary’s friends shared with him about his oldest brother. “Everyone called him ‘Mr. Fix-It.’ One time when he was fishing in Alaska, the boat motor conked out, and he pulled it apart and fixed it and got everyone back to shore.”
Even though there was a decade-plus age gap between Gary and his younger brothers, Bill and Jim, as adults the men spent time golfing in Arizona and salmon fishing together in Alaska.
“When we went golfing with Gary, we did not play 9 holes, or even 18 holes; we would play 36 holes. It was characteristic of Gary that when he picked something up, he went whole hog. The same with fishing – Gary did everything full tilt. It was all or nothing,” Jim said.
Like their older brother, Bill and Jim have engineering degrees from SDSU. Now retired from their own successful careers, they credit Gary for inspiring them.
“Gary would basically tell you, ‘Get into a field that is rewarding and compensates you,’” Bill said.
When the men helped Gary finalize his estate, they say he made generous gifts to all his siblings. It didn’t surprise them at all when he wanted to extend his generosity to SDSU students.
“Gary felt everyone should have a chance,” Bill said. “He always had a soft heart for people who were less fortunate than he was. If a person could not afford to go to school, he wanted to help them out. It makes us feel good that we were able to follow through with what he wanted.”
