Welcome Center renaming honors Joseph M. Gillette

 

The Marshall University Welcome Center was renamed the Joseph M. Gillette Welcome Center today in an official naming ceremony. The event took place at the center, which is located at the corner of Hal Greer Boulevard and Fifth Avenue on the Huntington campus.

 

Joe Gillette, a 1973 Marshall graduate now living in Atlanta, and his wife, the former Pam Adams of Bluefield, W.Va., made a financial commitment to the university which resulted in the renaming of the center. While Gillette and his late father share the same name, he said the center’s new name is a way “to memorialize my wonderful father.”

 

“The financial commitment and the naming of the center are to honor my father, and to symbolize my father’s love of Marshall University as well as mine,” Gillette said.

 

Joe’s father never attended Marshall, but grew up in Huntington and often visited the campus to play softball. Joe said his father had a lifelong passion for Marshall, even though he spent most of his adult years living and working in Johnstown, Ohio. In 1962, the family moved to Johnstown where Joe’s two sisters, Deborah Dauber and Sandra Bare, still live. Joe’s brother, Frank, lives in the Atlanta area.

 

“It was my dad’s dream that I would go to Marshall University,” Gillette said. “That dream was fulfilled. I later talked to my dad a lot about his love for Marshall, and my love for Marshall grew even more. Then I started thinking about giving back and I told dad, ‘I’m going to do something special for you at Marshall.’ The dedication of this building is really a promise kept.”

 

Dr. Ron Area, CEO of the Marshall University Foundation Inc., said the university is honored to rename the center after Joseph M. Gillette.

 

“As a very successful businessman and entrepreneur as a Wendy’s franchisee, Joe understands the importance of first impressions,” Area said. “I agree with Joe when he says the welcome center is the front door of the campus and where prospective students and their families are given a taste of the exciting adventure they will experience at Marshall.

 

“Joe is thrilled and honored to be associated with the welcome center and to help with the recruitment of students for years to come. We are grateful for Joe’s and Pam’s continuing generosity and support of Marshall University.”

 

Joe said his father was proud to show his loyalty to Marshall by flying Marshall flags outside his home in Johnstown.

 

“I cannot tell you how many flags I bought my dad,” Gillette said. “He flew a flag outside his home for 50 years. He loved Marshall even before I went there and continued to love Marshall until the day he died.”

 

Joe and Pam Gillette have supported Marshall for many years. In addition to generous financial support, Joe Gillette has provided dedicated leadership by serving on many boards of directors, including the Society of Yeager Scholars, the MU Alumni Association, and the Marshall Foundation, and is president of the Thunder Club.

 

In 2006, he established the Joseph M. Gillette Scholar award, also named in memory of his late father. The scholarship goes to a student selected to be a Yeager Scholar.