Severson Gift Establishes MSU-Bozeman
Agricultural Scholarships, Laboratories

01/19/98 BOZEMAN -- The family of the late George S. Severson, a long-time rancher in Miles City, Baker and Jordan, is honoring his agricultural heritage and southeastern Montana roots with a $100,000 gift in his name to the Montana State University-Bozeman College of Agriculture.

The gift will launch annual George S. Severson Agricultural Merit Scholarships earmarked for students from southeastern Montana who wish to study agriculture at MSU-Bozeman. It will also establish a laboratory in the innovative new Agricultural Bioscience facility now under construction.

George S. Severson was a 1939 graduate of MSU's College of Agriculture who was involved in agriculture in southeastern Montana from graduation until his death in 1994.

"Our family is making this gift in recognition of my father's lifelong interest in innovative ways of making agriculture more efficient and his conviction that education was a key element in doing so," said his son, Jerry W. Severson of Bozeman. "I hope that the laboratory and scholarships will contribute significantly to the future of agriculture in Montana."

"We sincerely appreciate the generous support of the Severson family," said Tom McCoy, dean of the MSU College of Agriculture. "It is the private contributions from people like the Seversons that makes the Agricultural Bioscience Facility a reality. Their gift is an investment in the future of agriculture in Montana, both in terms of support for educating tomorrow's agricultural leaders and for the research that will directly benefit all of the citizens of Montana."

The Severson gift was given jointly by his widow, Marge, of Billings, Jerry and Holly Severson of Bozeman and Robert and Janet Severson of Spokane, Wash.

A ceremony for the cornerstone and time capsule placement for the building which will benefit from the gift, MSU's Agricultural Bioscience Building, is set for 1 p.m., Oct. 3. The building site is located north of the current Plant Growth Center, approximately one block south of the intersection of College St. and 11th Ave.

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