Master Builder

Résumé du livre

This is a story of one of America's most extraordinary businessmen. A 1955 graduate of the Missouri School of Mines and Metallurgy, Fred Kummer, with his degree in civil engineering in hand, established the nation's most successful design-build construction company. Hospital Building and Equipment Corp. (HBE), over the course of five decades, built more than 1,000 hospitals, clinics, credit unions, and banks in 49 states. He also established the Adam's Mark hotel chain, including one in St. Louis that was the largest hotel in Missouri.Because of their success, Fred and his wife, June, decided to share their good fortune with Fred's alma mater. Fred believed that he could attribute much of his success to his education at the School of Mines (later called University of Missouri-Rolla, and then Missouri University of Science and Technology). With their record-breaking donation of $300,000,000, Fred and June wanted to help future generations of Miners have an opportunity to pursue careers in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields. In addition, they saw their gift as a way to elevate research at S&T and promote economic development in the region and the nation.