Do you know Frederick C. Philbrick ’11??

filbrickOn September 29, 1975 William D. Krahling, Interim Executive Director of Alpha Tau Omega received a letter from Peggy Betts Richardson. This letter explained that Peggy’s uncle, Frederick C. Philbrick and aunt, Edna Betts Philbrick had left a significant bequest in memory of Frederick to the ATO Foundation. This resulted in the establishment of the Frederick C. Philbrick Scholarship to benefit Gamma Zeta ATOs which has awarded thousands of dollars to Gamma Zeta undergrads over the last thirty five years. The current value of the Philbrick endowment is over $75,000 and we’ll be awarding another $3,300 to a Gamma Zeta undergrad again this year. This was a wonderful gesture by the Philbricks and I’m certain that the recipients of these scholarships over the years have been extremely grateful.

Gamma Zeta has six other scholarships that we award each year, two in honor of Bob Simonds and at least one each in honor and memory of Matt Heldman, J.D. Sinnock, Rich Clausing and Dave Timson. The Gamma Zeta endowment totals nearly $500,000 and we award over $20,000 each year in scholarships. All of these other guys and their stories are well know to us but Fred C. Philbrick remains a mystery.

Here’s what we know. ATO records show that he initiated to Gamma Zeta in 1911. He appears listed as a Freshman in the 1912 Illio Yearbook in the house roster but not in the picture. There isn’t a single mention of him in the Illio or the Daily Illini archives after that. There is no mention of him in the Palm or the Gamma Zeta Newsletters that we could find. There were a couple of hits on his name on the internet but certainly no explanation for his large gift to ATO. All we really have is the brief letter from his niece that is included below.

Why would a guy who very likely only spent one year as an active member of Gamma Zeta donate that much money over 60 years later? We’d love to know more about this brother and what motivated him. If you have any information at all that you can share, please pass it on!

San Diego Gamma Zetas Get Together

San DiegoOn Saturday, August 31, several San Diego area Gamma Zeta’s got together for lunch at Randy Jones Sports Bar in San Diego. The get together was prompted by Dane Luhrsen, Gamma Zeta’s Director of Alumni Relations visit to the area to watch his son’s Eastern Illinois Panther Football team play San Diego State (EIU won 40-19). Ed Ptacek ’54, Dr. Bill Mohlenbrock ’60, The Honorable Dick Murphy ’65, Brian Rawers ’78 joined Dane ’77 for lunch. This is just the tip of the ice berg of Gamma Zeta’s who have settled in San Diego and have lived in the area for years. Only Bill Mohlenbrock and Dick Murphy had known each other except for very recent ATO connections.Continue reading

Volunteers needed for Gamma Zeta Alumni Kitchen Committee

Early indications are that our decision to outsource facility management of Gamma Zeta to Alpha Management has been successful. We’re now taking a look at our kitchen and food service operation to see if there are better options than our current approach. We’re looking for a few interested alumni to form a committee to assess our current operation and take a look at some outsourcing options and make a recommendation to the Board of Trustees as to the optimum approach. We’re not looking for alumni to manage the kitchen long term… no grease traps to clean or dishes to wash… just some high level support for a decision around approach. This will probably result in a handful of conference calls and ideally at least one visit to the house. Please email Dane Luhrsen at dane.luhrsen@gartner.com if you’d be interested in helping out.

Your new alumni Board of Trustees

Please join us as we welcome our new leaders!

Alumni Association Board of Trustees

Jack M. Klues ’77 – Chairman/President
Hometown: Arlington Heights, Illinois
Major: Advertising
Graduation Year: 1977
Undergrad Office Served: Social And Philanthropic Teams
Other Campus Activities: IFC Internal Vice President for two years, and responsible for resurrecting campus homecoming tradition with all its components (Parade, Court, Bonfire, Pep Rally, etc.)
Current Career/Profession: I am just completing a 35 year career in advertising /media agency business as Global CEO of VivaKi, a collection of four agencies (Starcom, MediaVest, ZenithOptimedia, Digitas, and Razorfish). I had complete executive managerial oversight of over 20,000 employees in 85 countries and over 80 billion euros of annual ad spend. VivaKi is part of the Paris based marketing communications holding company named the Publicis Groupe.Continue reading

House Corp President Letter

piperHello Gamma Zeta Alumni,

The House Corporation and other alumni have been particularly active with the undergrad chapter these last few months and we’d like to give you an update.

If you visited the house recently, you were probably not happy with its condition. It is not good. The house has experienced rough treatment by the undergrads, inadequate on-going cleaning and maintenance and many years since any significant capital improvements and repairs have been made. This has been coupled with a current group that has not been living up to our long standing tradition of excellence in academics, intramurals, community service and leadership on the University of Illinois campus.Continue reading

Intramural All Points Competition is Back!!

RuboAfter a 38 year absence, the Intramural All-Points Competition will return to the University of Illinois Campus this fall. Any alumni who graduated prior to about 1980 will remember how much fun and exciting this competition was. Fraternities were awarded points for participating, competing in and winning intramural sports throughout the year and a giant trophy was awarded to the winner each spring. Thank Dr. Don “Rubo” Rubenstein ’80 for nudging the IFC and the Division of Campus Recreation to bring this great tradition back. A personal commitment from Rubo to fund a giant trophy for the winner probably helped.Continue reading

Gamma Zeta partners with Alpha Management for Facilities Management of 1101

greg scottAfter careful consideration, your Gamma Zeta Board of Trustees voted to contract with Alpha Management to supplement our pure “landlord” duties for our chapter house at 1101 W. Pennsylvania Ave. Alpha Management was founded in Ann Arbor, Michigan and has been in business for over 20 years. They currently support over fifty fraternities and sororities across 16 different campuses including four other ATO chapters and five other fraternities at the University of Illinois. They will provide “hands and feet” on campus to allow us to address maintenance and cleaning issues quickly. They bring best practices and proven processes in order to hold our resident members accountable Continue reading

A “Call to Action” from former ATO Worthy Grand Chief and Gamma Zeta Worthy Master Bob Simonds ‘47

Bob SimondswbadgeBob Simonds ’47 blood runs about as “blue and gold” as it gets and he needs our help.

  1. Click on this link – http://www.alswalk4life.org/gammazeta, pull out your credit card and make a donation to ALS research in Bob’s name.
  2. Join Bob and his team at the 12th Annual Les Turner ALS Walk4Life at Soldier Field on September 22. (please email luhrsen@gartner.com if you can make it so we can order you a Bob Simonds Team T-Shirt and let you know where to meet).

Continue reading

Bob Cavoto ’75 to lead new Alumni “Innovation” Committee

cavotoBob Cavoto ’75, Managing Principal, 20-20 Foresight Executive Search & Executive Marketing, has agreed to lead a new alumni committee to support Gamma Zeta undergrads who have innovative ideas for new products and businesses. We have tremendous resources within our alumni network across nearly every discipline. We also have an incredibly bright and fearless group of undergrads who look at products, businesses and technologies through an entirely different lens. This new committee is being formed to develop ways to link alumni support, idea enhancement, networking, coaching and possibly even funding to our undergrads who have new and innovative product, technology and business ideas. They will also encourage and promote the undergrads to bring forward ideas and think in innovative ways.Continue reading

Andrew Selby ’10 forms ATO Illinois Linkedin “subgroup” for Marketing/Advertising

selbyAndrew Selby ’10, Account Executive at Leo Burnett, has formed a “subgroup” within our ATO Illinois Linkedin group specifically for guys who have focused their career around Marketing and Advertising. This will provide a great way for these guys to network with each other, share ideas and post job opportunities. Younger members of our network can easily find more experienced guys for coaching and mentoring support. Guys who have moved up the chain can find great candidates for roles they need to fill. AND… any of our other members who may need to hire marketing or advertising support will be able to look first to see of a brother can help fulfill a need they have, answer questions or provide referrals. Continue reading