CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WAND) - The University of Illinois has received a $5.75 million gift from Gies College of Business alumnus Anthony (Tony) J. Petullo and his wife Bev.
The investment will be divided between Gies College of Business, the School of Art and Design, and the Krannert Art Museum.
Nearly half of the gift, $2.5 million, will create the Petullo Impact Fund at Gies College of Business. The Fund will invest in faculty at Gies supporting professorships, fellowships, chairs, PhD and post-doc support, and faculty research support.
Petullo will also invest $1.75 million to create the Anthony J. Petullo School of Art and Design Scholarship and Fellowship Endowment Fund, which will support undergraduate and graduate student scholarships and fellowships.
$1.5 million will be given to the Krannert Art Museum to create the Anthony J. Petullo Art Acquisition and Conservation Endowment Fund. This Fund will support the acquisition of American and European paintings, drawings, prints, and photography. It will also help fund the conservation of all of the Museum’s collections.
“Tony Petullo has been a model philanthropist for Gies and for so many schools and colleges on this campus,” said Jeffrey R. Brown, Josef and Margot Lakonishok Professor in Business and Dean of Gies College of Business. “Tony cares so deeply for our students and for this university. In addition to his financial generosity, he loves engaging personally with our campus community. He wants his gifts to inspire others, and I’m happy to say he has inspired countless students and faculty through his many years of support.”
Tony Petullo graduated from the Gies Business with a bachelor’s in marketing in 1961. Then, he spent three years as a US Navy officer and five years with Mobil Corporation. He founded Olsten Staffing Services, a successful temporary help firm in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and following the sale of Olsten Staffing Services in 2000, he became president of the Anthony Petullo Foundation.
During the 1970s, he became interested in works by self-taught and outsider artists from Europe and the Americas. Since then, he has become a recognized authority on self-taught art and has written three books on the subject.
At Gies, he has provided the funding for the Anthony J. Petullo Leaders in Business Scholarship, as well as the Anthony J. Petullo Professor of Business Administration. Across campus he has established the Petullo Insight Leadership Program at the Illinois Leadership Center, the Anthony J. Petullo Design Fellowship in the School of Art and Design, the Anthony J. Petullo Advertising Fellowship in the College of Media, and the Anthony J. Petullo Professor in Design.
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