River Campus donor B.W. Harrison dies

JESSICA EDMOND * photos@semissourian.com

Two-year-old Jae Davis of Cape Girardeau waved two

American flags as floats in the SEMO District Fair parade passed by Monday evening. By Bob Miller ~ Southeast Missourian

B.W. Harrison was a man who embraced the outdoors.

He loved farming, gardening and working in the yard, even if it wasn't his own.

But when history looks back upon Harrison's life, Cape Gir-ardeau will probably remember him more for what he gave than anything he grew.

Harrison, 94, the man who kick-started the River Campus project with an $800,000 donation, died Monday at the Lutheran Home.

Harrison was a devout Catholic and took a great personal interest in local history.

In 1998, he donated $800,000 in stocks to Southeast Missouri State University on the condition that the university protect the significance of the old seminary buildings. Harrison wanted the buildings to serve as a memorial to his wife, Hazel, and her mother, who both had a longtime association with the seminary. The university is making the seminary buildings into a performance arts campus.

"It was certainly a magnificent gift and a great act of humanitarianism," said Dr. Don Dickerson, president of the university's board of regents. "I always found him to be a very gentle person and very considerate of other people. He lived by strong principles of faith and hope and was always optimistic about the future."

More recently he donated his home, the Huhn-Harrison House, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, to the university. The house sits across the street from the seminary property.

Harrison was also on the original committees that worked to restore Old St. Vincent's Church.

"He was a true philanthropist in every sense of the word," said Loretta Schneider, who is a member of the Greater Cape Girardeau Historical Association and worked alongside Harrison in renovating the church. "He loved his old home, he loved the history of the city and the history of their families. We've lost a valuable citizen in Cape Girardeau, and he won't be forgotten."

Schneider said Harrison was involved with activities at the historic Glenn House as well, donating many hours of his time working in the flower beds there.

Harrison's generosity reached many aspects of life. He donated to the soccer fields at Shawnee Park, to the College of the Ozarks and the Missouri 4-H Foundation.

Don Henderson, the 4-H Foundation director at the University of Missouri said Harrison became "one of the most generous donors in the history of the foundation."

Harrison was born May 2, 1910, at Salem, Mo. In 1933, while attending the University of Missouri, he began a 40-year career in extension work in county and state positions.

He received a degree in agriculture from the University of Missouri in 1936 and did graduate work at Colorado State and the Universities of Missouri and Wisconsin.

Ford & Sons Mount Auburn is in charge of the arrangements.

bmiller@semissourian.com

243-6635