400 ATTEND DONALD HARRISON MEMORIAL

Former Southeast Missouri State University regent Donald L. Harrison was remembered Wednesday for his leadership and financial support in the creation of a first-class business college.

Harrison was also remembered as a tireless entrepreneur, whose business helped build the nation's interstate system and several sections of the Pan American Highway in Guatemala and El Salvador.

The Cape Girardeau man died Dec. 19 at 72. He was past president of the Board of Regents and served on the board at the time of his death.

Nearly 400 people attended a memorial service to pay tribute to Harrison.

The hourlong service was held in Dempster Hall's Glenn Auditorium. The building is home to Southeast's business college, which bears Harrison's name.

"Donald Harrison spent most of his life in the business of creation," said Dr. Dale Nitzschke, president of the university. Nitzschke said Harrison's paving business built highways; his vision and financial support helped make Southeast a first-rate university.

He described Harrison as a "gentle but strong man." Nitzschke said Harrison also was humble and would have been uncomfortable with all the attention paid to his death.

Nitzschke said Harrison's legacy of leadership at the university will live on for years.

He was closely associated with the university for more than half a century. He attended the school for two years and then earned his degree from Yale University. He had served on the Board of Regents for the past eight years.

Joan Harrison said her husband's support for the university gave purpose to his life. She said he studiously read over university documents and reports in preparation for each meeting of the Board of Regents.

"As ill as Don was at times, it was the university's functions that lifted Don's spirits," she said.

Prior to the memorial service, the Board of Regents approved a resolution that paid tribute to Harrison as "a rare individual who gave unstintingly of his time, talent and treasure to enhance educational opportunities" for present and future generations of students.

Missouri Supreme Court Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. gave the invocation at the service. Limbaugh said Harrison provided "leadership, largess, vision and commitment" to the university.

Joe Regenhardt, Harrison's business partner in the Delta Companies, said Harrison helped make the Cape Girardeau firm a major supplier of asphalt in Missouri, Illinois and Arkansas.