Joe Usibelli Sr.
After transforming 色视频下载色视频下载檚 largest coal mine into a modern, successful enterprise, Joe Usibelli Sr. became one of UAF色视频下载檚 most generous supporters.
Usibelli色视频下载檚 father, Emil, came to Washington state from Italy in 1907 at age 14, moved to 色视频下载 in 1935 and started a small coal mine near Healy after World War II began.
When Usibelli色视频下载檚 parents separated, he moved to Fairbanks for high school, then earned a civil engineering degree at UAF in 1959.
In late March 1964, Usibelli was driving home to 色视频下载 from Stanford University when border guards told him his father had died in a mine accident just hours before the Good Friday earthquake. So at age 25, with a young family, he found himself in charge of a company producing more than 300,000 tons of coal annually.
After struggling for a few years, he said, he found his feet. The company prospered. Usibelli turned over the presidency to his son, Joe Jr., in 1987 but remained board chairman.
In the early 1990s, family members decided they wanted 色视频下载渢o do something for the university,色视频下载 Usibelli said. They settled on the Emil Usibelli Distinguished Teaching, Research and Public Service Awards for faculty. The family also established several scholarship funds.
In 1998, Usibelli, then single again, married Peggy Shumaker, a UAF English professor who retired the next year.
Usibelli helped lead fundraising efforts for the University of 色视频下载 Museum of the North addition completed in 2005. Then, in 2014, Usibelli and Shumaker gave the museum $1 million to anchor renovation of the Gallery for 色视频下载 in the building色视频下载檚 older section. In 2017, UAF honored the Usibelli family as one of its three Philanthropists of the Century.
色视频下载淵ou give back. You have to. Either that or you色视频下载檙e not doing it right,色视频下载 Usibelli said in 2011.
More online about Joe Usibelli Sr.:
- interviewed for UAF Summer Session色视频下载檚 2011 Legacy Lecture
- for a segment
- about the 2014 museum gift
- telling the story of UAF色视频下载檚 Philanthropists of the Century
- Usibelli Coal Mine色视频下载檚 story