Ira A. Fulton, champion of education and lifelong philanthropist, dies at 94
Ira A. Fulton (shaking hands with graduates after speaking at the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering convocation May 8, 2019) once estimated that he had given away the equivalent of 60 cents of every dollar he earned in his lifetime. “I don’t regret one penny of it,” he told Deseret News in 2015. “The only thing I regret is I can’t give more.” Photo by Nicole Neri/ASU News
Ira A. Fulton would be proud to know that the results of an internet search of his name include more references to wealth he gave away than the wealth he accrued. His financial successes were substantial, yet he was known to say, “Becoming a billionaire means zilch to me because you can’t take it with you. Now, to give away a billion dollars — that’s important.”
Fulton died on Aug. 21 at the age of 94, after supporting tens of thousands of students at Arizona State University. The ASU alum also served on the ASU Board of Trustees and the ASU Foundation board of directors.
Fulton was born in Tempe, Arizona, on Nov. 12, 1931. He grew up just a block away from the building that now houses Arizona State University’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.
His mother gave him his first job at age 6, washing dishes in the cafe she operated. She also provided his first lessons in philanthropy, giving food to people who couldn’t afford it during the Great Depression. Speaking on behalf of his large family, Ira said, “Mom, we’re poor, too.” She replied, “But Ira, they are hungry.” Years later, Fulton said, “I learned the principle of giving, and I didn't even know it. My mother was a very generous lady.”
At 11, Fulton took a job delivering newspapers for The Arizona Republic. He soon became the paper’s most successful carrier and eventually took over the paper’s largest route. It was one of several jobs he held simultaneously in his teens, Fulton said in a 2015 interview, along with delivering dairy products, collecting and selling wild honey, and building and loading wooden fruit boxes.
“My parents always said to me, ‘Do anything the best you can.’ If you mow the yard, mow it the best. If you rake the yard, rake it the best. If you are going to drive a truck, drive it better than anybody else,” Fulton said.
Fulton attended then-Arizona State College on a football scholarship, where he met his sweetheart and love of his life, Mary Lou Henson. She was unsure of him at first.
“I thought he was just a little too loud and obnoxious and good-looking,” she said in a 2006 interview, “and I just didn’t want anything to do with him.”
She said she also thought his smile was too perfect for his teeth to be real.
They were real, and so was the love that developed between the two. They wed in June 1954, and the marriage lasted until Mary Lou’s death in 2015.
Finding success through hard work and innovation, Ira Fulton quickly became National Cash Register’s National Salesman of the Year. He used his experience and network to start the first of several companies he would develop and then sell over the years. In 1976, he acquired a struggling Southern California menswear firm, Eagleson’s Big and Tall, and grew it from two stores to more than 30. He followed that success by buying and growing the family business that bears his name, the Tempe-based homebuilder and developer Fulton Homes.
The success of Fulton Homes, Fulton’s longest-lasting business, enabled the creation of the Fulton Family Foundation, supporting Fulton’s passion to uplift others.
“When you look at history,” Fulton was quoted on the foundation’s “Who we are” page as saying, “you realize we are here for just a second, a twinkle of time, and you learn we can do things to make the world a better place.”
Ira and Mary Lou Fulton frequently appeared on lists of the most generous philanthropists in the nation. Their gifts to ASU and Brigham Young University, among other universities, number in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and several colleges and centers at both universities bear one or both of their names.
At ASU, those gifts named the Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation and the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering — support that continues to fund scholarships, faculty and student research at both schools.
“Ira Fulton has always understood that the true impact of philanthropy is not measured by the buildings that bear a name, but by the people whose lives are changed. Through the generosity of Ira and his family, the Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation has been able to create opportunities for teachers and learners whose impact reaches classrooms, schools and communities across Arizona and beyond. That is a legacy that will continue for generations,” said Carole Basile, dean of the Mary Lou Fulton College.
The engineering school that carries Fulton’s name has grown into the largest and most comprehensive engineering program in the country.
“Ira was a fixture at orientations, research symposiums and convocations into his 90s, always curious about what students were going to do next,” said Kyle Squires, dean of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at ASU. “The engineers and technologists who come through our schools because of his generosity are working on problems that didn't exist when he made his gift, and tens of thousands have earned degrees that bear his name. They are the ones who will continue his work.”
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Mary Lou and Ira Fulton, shown in January 2006, met at ASU (then Arizona State College) and wed in June 1954. The marriage lasted until Mary Lou’s death in 2015. The pair frequently appeared on lists of the most generous philanthropists in the nation. Their gifts to ASU and Brigham Young University, among other universities, number in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Courtesy photo
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From left: Mary Lou and Ira Fulton smile as ASU President Michael Crow speaks at the July 2003 announcement of the naming of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, now the largest and one of the most comprehensive engineering programs in the country with more than 30,000 students.
Archive photo
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The Fulton Center building on the Tempe campus, shown in a drone photo on Feb. 20, 2024, was named in recognition of the Fultons’ long-term commitment to the university. It is the home of the ASU Foundation for a New American University as well as university leadership and initiatives.
Photo by Samantha Chow/ASU
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From left: Former Mary Lou and Ira Fulton and ASU President Michael Crow at the March 21, 2006, naming ceremony for the Fulton Center.
Archive photo
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Ira and Mary Lou Fulton share a laugh onstage at the March 17, 2008, ceremony naming the university's education college, what is now known as the Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation. The plaque on the right, bearing Mary Lou Fulton's likeness, would be placed in the courtyard of the Farmer Education Building on the Tempe campus.
Photo by Tom Story/ASU
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Shenanigans are afoot onstage at the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering convocation on May 13, 2014. Fulton frequently made appearances at graduation, urging students to make a difference in the world.
ASU photo
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Ira Fulton also was known to make an appearance at E2 camp (shown here in 2015), a three-day experience in Prescott, Arizona, held each summer to give incoming first-year students a head start on their college journey.
ASU photo
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The Fulton family was honored as Philanthropists of the Year at the March 21, 2018, Founders’ Day Awards, where members of the Fulton family posed with ASU leadership. Front row, from left: Kyle Squires, dean of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering; Ira A. Fulton; Carole Basile, dean of the Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation. Back row, from left: Norm Nicholls, Lorie Nicholls, Doug Fulton and Jane Fulton.
Photo by Timon Harper Photography
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Ira Fulton speaks at the spring 2018 convocation of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.
ASU photo
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Ira Fulton smiles at an ASU event celebrating his 90th birthday in November 2021. The event included performances by the ASU marching band and spirit squad, a cupcake giveaway and a proclamation by Tempe Mayor Corey Woods.
Photo by Erika Gronek/ASU
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Ira Fulton with son Doug Fulton at his 90th birthday celebration outside Hayden Library on the Tempe campus.
Photo by Erika Gronek/ASU
The Fultons were frequent visitors to campuses of both universities, caring personally about the students, leaders and programs they supported directly. He told BYU Magazine, “I want to make a difference. That’s why I’m so involved. Mary Lou and I see the value of education. When we can participate with these great students and their great professors and help them achieve their goals, that personally excites us.”
Fulton loved helping students become teachers and engineers, and he recognized the importance of both professions.
A legacy of impact
Learn more about Ira Fulton's life and the lessons he shared: ira.asu.edu.
Every year, he would spend time sharing stories from a lifetime of business, philanthropy and learning, weaving together memories of Mary Lou, lessons from influential teachers and business leaders, and reflections on the values he believed mattered most. Those conversations became a tradition for many students, who saw firsthand how deeply he respected both educators and the impact they have on future generations.
Fulton once estimated that he had given away the equivalent of 60 cents of every dollar he earned in his lifetime. In 2015, he told Deseret News, “I don’t regret one penny of it. The only thing I regret is I can’t give more.”
The Fulton Center on the Tempe campus was built in 2005 and named in recognition of the Fultons’ long-term commitment to the university, which exceeds $160 million. It is the home of the ASU Foundation for a New American University as well as university leadership and initiatives.
“Arizona State University feels immense gratitude for Ira and Mary Lou Fulton,” ASU Foundation CEO Gretchen Buhlig said. “ASU’s campuses boast many programs, schools and buildings bearing the Fulton name as testimony to their extraordinary generosity. Despite his many business successes — residential development and construction being only the most recent — Ira Fulton often said he found the most gratification in developing people, not homes. We can never know the number of people whose improved lives are testimony to his words.”
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