Delta State accounting alumnus and benefactor Jimmy Wilson (center right) and his wife, Pam, listen to senior accounting major Marshal Salley (center left) introduce him as Delta State President William N. LaForge watches on Thursday, Nov. 15, 2018The education that insurance executive Jimmy Wilson received from Delta State University has proven so indispensable over his 50-year career that he has pledged $100,000 to his alma mater as a way of expressing appreciation.
“I get very emotional when talking about what John Yurkow meant to me personally and professionally,” he said of the late chair emeritus of the Department of Accountancy and Delta State accounting professor from 1958 until 1986. “It is with my deepest thanks to him that I pledge $100,000 to the John Yurkow Accounting Scholarship Fund.”
“Education truly creates opportunities and gives choices that would not occur otherwise. Jimmy Wilson is an excellent example of a great student who had an opportunity and made the most of it,” said Clint Wood, chair of the Division of Accountancy, Computer Information Systems, and Finance at Delta State. “Now, his incredible gift will provide opportunities for a multitude of students into the future. We are deeply grateful to be a part of his rich vision for the future of many college students.”
Wilson also owes a debt of gratitude to the late Dr. Ira Castles, who taught economics at Delta State from 1959 to 1976. “I minored in economics and took every course available from him,” Wilson recalled. “The economic courses have been invaluable to me in my business.”
That business is the Clarksdale-based Fiser Insurance Agency. It opened in 1954. Wilson joined in 1968 shortly upon graduating from Delta State. He became president in 2002 and still serves in that role.
Born in Clarksdale, MS, Wilson graduated from Clarksdale-Coahoma High School in 1964. A first-generation college student, he worked his way through college—another reason for his six-figure gift.
“I now realize that a college education is much more than what is accomplished in the classroom,” said Wilson. “I learned how to be self-sufficient, having to work at Douglas & Lomason [an automotive seating systems manufacturer] and then at Baxter [a global medical products company] in Cleveland to pay for my college education. My family had very little and so I did what I had to do to pay my own way. I left Delta State without owing a penny to anyone.”
Wilson cited membership in the first pledge class of the Kappa Alpha Order fraternity at Delta State in 1965 as an additional motivation for giving back. “One year, 10 of us played a continuous game of basketball as a fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital that earned us a spot in the Guinness World Book of Records,” he remembered. “I am saying all this to let you know that I did not just get an education. I got a life experience that has helped guide me all these years.”
Wilson and his wife, Pam, are members of St. Paul’s United Methodist Church; Wilson has been a trustee there and has served on the finance committee. Wilson also is president of the Clarksdale Country Club, a trustee of Coahoma Community College, and a board member of Lee Academy private secondary school. He and Pam are the parents of four children and 12 grandchildren.
“I can honestly say without reservation that my contribution will never repay all that I received from Delta State University,” Wilson concluded.
That rang true to senior accounting major Marshal Salley, who introduced Wilson during the announcement, which occurred on Thursday afternoon, Nov. 15, 2018, as part of the College of Business and Aviation’s scholarship recognition and reception. “I have the exact same thoughts about my own professors here at Delta State,” said Salley, who also was a scholarship recipient. “We are very proud of you, and we commit to making you proud of us as well.”
Kay Yurkow Chudy, daughter of John and Helen Yurkow, was among those attending the event along with Wilson’s family.
His pledge is the latest in six- and seven-figure gifts to Delta State this year. Other examples include $3 million in March from the Gertrude C. Ford Foundation to create and maintain the Center for Teaching and Learning; $1.5 million in August from the Delta Regional Foundation to support the Bologna Performing Arts Center (BPAC), Delta Music Institute, athletics, and scholarships; $1.3 million in April from Anita Bologna for BPAC; $500,000 in October from FedEx’s Purple Runway Program for commercial aviation scholarships; $150,000 in September from Billy Nowell ’72, mayor of the city of Cleveland, and his wife, Becky Nowell ’81, for various scholarships; and $150,000 in September from the Tri State Educational Foundation to support graduate students pursuing the master of education degree in elementary education.
