Arizona Impact

ASU remembers Lonnie Ostrom for his service to students, colleagues, donors

July 6, 2022

Ostrom served as president of ASU Foundation, professor of marketing and former associate dean in W. P. Carey School of Business

When asked about lessons learned throughout his life, Lonnie Ostrom’s most important takeaway was: “Friendships and relationships dominate the memories you carry with you. That’s what life is all about.”

Ostrom adhered to this principle closely, through his unwavering commitment to developing meaningful relationships with each student, benefactor and colleague he worked with.

An Air Force veteran who died on July 4, Ostrom spent just shy of 50 years developing these relationships and advancing the future of ASU for generations to come. He was 80 years old.

When he assumed the helm of the ASU Foundation in 1982, Ostrom inherited a nascent fundraising organization. By the time he retired as president in 2005, he had transformed Arizona State University’s ability to raise support for its students, faculty and programs.

A professor of marketing and former associate dean in the W. P. Carey School of Business, Ostrom’s leadership and vision — demonstrated in new programs such as the President’s Club, Sun Devil Family Association, and Women & Philanthropy — changed the culture of philanthropy at ASU by breaking all previous expectations of what could be accomplished through fundraising.

“Lonnie Ostrom’s work, vision and love for ASU helped lay the foundation for the 21st century university we are evolving,” ASU President Michael M. Crow said. “As a professor, administrator and fundraiser, Lonnie had a special understanding of ASU and over more than two decades, he translated that knowledge to establish innovative avenues of support that are still thriving today.”

Lonnie Ostrom. Photo courtesy of Shelley Valdez/ASU

Ostrom was audacious in his out-of-the-box thinking, leading the first two universitywide comprehensive campaigns at ASU — the Campaign for ASU and the ASU Campaign for Leadership. In both, he and the dynamic board he recruited led the foundation and university community in setting ambitious goals and then exceeding their ambitions.

Through these forward-thinking campaigns, Ostrom led the university in focusing on its priorities and deciding exactly what kind of university it wanted to be. His leadership, which Ostrom attributed to “a commitment to making work fun,” enabled ASU to take its place among the nation’s major institutions of higher learning worthy of private support.

“Lonnie’s tenure at the ASU Foundation was truly a defining moment for ASU,” ASU Foundation CEO Gretchen Buhlig said. “We are grateful for his dedication to the success of our university and our students. He left a legacy that will be treasured.”

Ostrom is survived by his wife, Martha, children Amy Ostrom (President's Professor, former interim dean for the W. P. Carey School of Business and PetSmart Chair in Service Leadership), Ryan Ostrom and Jennifer Ostrom, stepchildren Amy O’Melia-Endres (former associate vice president of planned giving and development officer the ASU Foundation), Erin Tawney, Kathleen O’Melia and Kelly Delmore, and 13 grandchildren.

Top photo: Martha and Lonnie Ostrom pictured in 2016. Photo courtesy of the Ostrom family

Michelle Stermole

Senior Director, Public Relations and Strategic Communications , ASU Enterprise Partners

480-727-7402 michelle.stermole@asuep.org

ASU historian says to examine our past, take responsibility for our future

Brooks Simpson next to Civil War replica cannons on the Gettysburg battlefield.

A middle-aged woman with dark auburn hair was the last person to ask Brooks Simpson, Foundation Professor of history at Arizona State University, a question after he delivered the first Gabor S. Boritt Lecture on June 12 at the annual Civil War Institute Summer Conference at Gettysburg College.She tilted her head back to speak into the microphone that was slightly above her head. Her voice was wea...

Read the article

ASU historian says to examine our past, take responsibility for our future

Brooks Simpson uses Ulysses S. Grant's struggle with equality as a mirror to our present-day issues

July 6, 2022

She tilted her head back to speak into the microphone that was slightly above her head. Her voice was weary, her frustration palpable. Brooks Simpson next to Civil War replica cannons on the Gettysburg battlefield. Brooks Simpson describes the Battle of Gettysburg next to Civil War replica cannons on the Gettysburg battlefield. Simpson delivered the first Gabor S. Boritt Lecture on June 12 at the annual Civil War Institute Summer Conference at Gettysburg College. Download Full Image

“I’m from Buffalo, New York, and a month ago, people in my community were slaughtered simply for being Black,” the woman said. “President Grant rebuked Americans, white Americans, for not caring about activities such as that. What could have been done differently throughout history so that we wouldn’t be where we are today? I feel like we haven’t made any strides since the Civil War. I know that’s very fatalistic, but that’s how I feel since what’s happened in my community.”

“I understand,” Simpson said, nodding somberly and pausing before he answered her. “I can say that Grant’s observations about the state of race relations and how they can change, and why they didn’t, still have validity today. Instead of blaming the past for present ills, we should listen to President Grant, and act how he would have wanted us to act.”

Simpson, a faculty member in the College of Integrative Sciences and Arts at ASU's Polytechnic campus, had just finished his talk on “Ulysses S. Grant, Race, and the Formation of Military and Political Policy.” Understanding Grant’s position on race has been a part of Simpson’s research involving American politics, the Civil War and Reconstruction, and American military history.

Simpson has written 15 books and 67 publications and has made 21 national TV appearances sharing his knowledge on these topics. He recently spoke at the bicentennial of Ulysses Grant’s birth in a ceremony at Grant’s Tomb in New York City. He has also been a speaker at the Civil War Institute summer conference nine times.

The Civil War Institute conference took place a few weeks before the 159th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg; one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War, it began on July 1 and lasted three days. According to an organizer, many participants are not professional historians, but are history enthusiasts and come from a broad range of backgrounds.

Over six days, attendees listen to lectures and visit the battlefields that surround the town of Gettysburg and the college. According to a promotional video on the Civil War Institute website, many people come to learn not just about the Civil War battles, but about the politics and social issues of the time.

Some, like the woman from Buffalo, are trying to better understand the past to make sense of the present.

Simpson says that when he was growing up, the Civil War centennial, the historic social changes of the 1960s and the Vietnam War all played a part in shaping his interest in American history.

Brooks Simpson during his talk titled "Ulysses S. Grant, Race, and the Formation of Military and Political Policy" while at the Civil War Institute Summer Conference at Gettysburg College.