Richard Small ’50: Remembering Cornell’s greatest benefactor
Richard Small ’50, whose impact on Cornell College places him among the giants in college history, was remembered as generous and humble following his death at age 93 on Nov. 15, 2022.
Small credited Cornell for giving him the confidence to build a highly successful career and, as importantly, for introducing him to his wife, Norma. He believed so strongly in Cornell that he gave his alma mater decades of volunteer leadership and a large portion of his wealth.
“Dick, with Norma, loved Cornell right down to his core, and this is an enormous loss for us. Cornell simply would not be what it is today without Richard and Norma. Their impact on Cornell is profound, reaching every corner of campus. Among Cornellians, no name elicits more appreciation than Richard Small’s,” said Cornell President Jonathan Brand.
Small served on the Cornell Board of Trustees for more than 50 years. He and Norma, an honorary alumna and honorary trustee, donated more than $39 million to Cornell, supporting virtually every major college priority over the past four decades.
Early life and Cornell
Richard Small was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and later lived in south suburban Chicago. During the Great Depression his family was twice evicted from their homes.
Small was just 17 years old in May of 1946, about to graduate from high school in Harvey, Illinois, when he made a decision that would have major repercussions. In study hall one day he asked the classmate ahead of him if he was going to college. “Yes, to Cornell College,” said Campbell McConnell (who graduated from Cornell in 1950 and went on to write the world’s most widely read economics textbook). To which Small said, “Maybe I’ll go there too.”
Small later said the most important thing he learned at Cornell was self-confidence.
“Cornell increased my self-esteem and my confidence that I would be a success after graduating,” he said in a 2015 Cornell Report Q&A article.
At Cornell, Small began majoring in economics and business and earned a letter as student manager of the cross country team coached by the charismatic Paul K. Scott ’29. At the end of the season Scott, also the wrestling coach, encouraged Small to come out for wrestling. Small did, and that decision placed him on the legendary 1947 team that won both the NCAA and AAU national championships. Although he wasn’t a starter that year, in 1949 Small won the Midwest Conference title at 165 pounds.
“My appreciation of being able to be part of that great team and being able to wrestle the following years is the basis of my loyalty to Cornell College,” Small said in a 70th anniversary story about the team.
Scott later became Cornell’s alumni director and in 1974 introduced Small to Norma Thomas, then the alumni office manager. They married in 1975.
Establishing a career
In 1952 Small founded Cheker Oil Company with a lease on an abandoned gas station in Olympia Fields, Illinois. The oil marketing firm grew to a network of more than 200 stations in 18 states and also owned hotels, industrial parks, and investment properties, as well as high rise condominiums and resort property at Marco Island, Florida.
As he grew his business he continued his education at the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program for senior executives and Northwestern University Graduate School of Business Administration. Small rose in the industry to serve on the boards of the Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America and the Midwest Petroleum Marketers Association.
In 1983 he sold his interest in Cheker to Marathon Petroleum Corporation and in 1984 began a new career as chairman and majority stockholder of Florida-based Tri-Star Aerospace Inc., a distributor of aircraft hardware and fluid system components used in the aerospace industry. Upon the sale in 1996 of most of his shareholdings, he retired as CEO but continued as vice chairman of the board.
He served on two bank boards in the Chicago area and provided years of service to the Red Cross, Boy Scouts of America, the American Cancer Society, St. James Hospital, the Chicago Conference for Brotherhood, and the Chicago Petroleum Council’s City of Hope project.
His love of wrestling kept him involved with that sport as well. He was a founding governor of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Since 1992 he and Norma lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where they were members of the Boston Avenue United Methodist Church.
Serving the church
Small was a lifelong member of the United Methodist Church and was honored in 2000 with the Stanley S. Kresge Award, presented annually by the United Methodist Foundation for Christian Higher Education for unselfish support of United Methodist higher education. The award recognized his long leadership and support of Cornell College.
One of the speakers at the Kresge award dinner was Cornell College Professor of Politics Craig Allin, who noted that if Cornell College were ever renamed in honor of the Smalls, “… it would be an impressive promotion in status to go from being ‘a small liberal arts college’ to being ‘The Small Liberal Arts College.’ ”
Small was actively involved with the United Methodist Church wherever he resided. He led various local church agencies concerned with the role and status of women, religion and race, and inter-religious understanding and cooperation. With Norma he was honored as Outstanding Leaders for Higher Education by the Oklahoma Conference of the United Methodist Church.
His conviction that the mission of the college and the mission of the church are closely allied led him in 2000 to initiate and endow the Small-Thomas Lecture Series “Dreams of Peace, Visions of the Future,” which has brought to campus speakers including U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., Sean Farren, Edwina Gately, the Rev. Raphael Warnock, Amina Wadud, and Dolores Huerta. The lecture series’ goal is to build a community where people of all cultures and religions enjoy respect and the ability to develop understanding and support of one another. The Smalls believed in that goal and often traveled to campus for the lectures.
Prior to founding the lecture series, Small heard Samuel Proctor, pastor emeritus of Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York City, and arranged for Proctor to speak at Cornell. Proctor then taught a course at Cornell and received an honorary doctor of humane letters, the college’s highest honor.
Steering Cornell’s future
Both Richard and Norma have family ties to Cornell. Richard’s brother, Robert, graduated in 1954. Norma’s parents, Cecil and June Thomas, lived in Mount Vernon where her father was Cornell’s superintendent of building and grounds until his retirement. Each has a child who graduated from Cornell: Richard’s daughter, Marcia Small ’75, and Norma’s son, Michael Burk ’83. Richard’s grandsons Cole Hydrick ’14 and Jesse Small ’24; and Norma’s granddaughter, Lyndsey Burk ’13, niece, Victoria Thomas ’98, and nephew Sean Thomas ’96, are also alumni.
Small was first elected to the Cornell College Board of Trustees in 1971, the year his daughter entered Cornell. He served until 1981 and again from 1986 to 1999, chairing the Board from 1993 to 1996. As chair he led its members in a serious examination of its strategic focus and operations, resulting in new enthusiasm, improved efficiency, and a clear sense of direction.
Read some of the responses the college received upon news of Richard Small’s death.
“Dick was a great board leader, decisive and direct,” recalls Gib Drendel ’58, a past Board Chair who served for many years with Small. “I recall a committee meeting to consider a trustee’s minimum annual financial contribution. A consensus figure seemed to be reached when Dick quickly interjected. ‘It should be twice that amount.’ And quickly the new annual gift became Dick’s figure.
“In spite of his financial success, Dick never strayed far from his humble childhood. We held summer Trustee work sessions at our home providing sandwiches and lunch. If a sandwich was left, Dick would slip it in his briefcase ‘for the plane ride home.’ ”
In a tribute to the Smalls during the college’s Sesquicentennial in 2003, fellow Trustee Mary Bowman Seidler ’61 described a couple that leaves an indelible impact.
“No group of Cornellians can ever mention Cornell—its past, present, and future—without speaking warmly, even joyously, about Norma and Dick,” she said. “There simply are no perfectly crafted words to adequately describe all they have given to our world, including to this fortunate institution, Cornell College. Every square inch of this campus and its buildings speak their names. Their presence permeates our classrooms and the many intangibles that make Cornell what it is.”
While Small preferred to build the endowment for the long-term health of the college, he and Norma stepped forward with lead gifts for numerous immediate capital needs. The Smalls’ have been major donors on every Cornell capital project since 1985, including an unprecedented $20 million challenge gift in 1990.
His and Norma’s support extends from the Richard and Norma Small Athletic and Wellness Center (the SAW) to the Thomas Commons, and encompasses fine arts, residence halls, the library, and academic buildings. They established the first endowed faculty chair, and their most recent multi-million dollar gifts were for the Science Facilities Project and the Athletic and Wellness Facilities Project.
Why did Richard Small support Cornell so generously?
“Attending Cornell changed my life,” he said during the Cornell Report Q&A interview. “Cornell has always been very good but is better since One Course At A Time. Few Cornell College students have come from wealthy families, so those of us who are wealthy must do as much as possible for Cornell.”
In 2000 Richard Small received Cornell’s highest honor, the honorary degree doctor of humane letters. These words, read by then-President Les Garner, captured then as now the sentiments Cornellians will always feel for Small:
“Today your college honors you as one who exemplifies our highest ideals, and we applaud you as one who stands among the giants in the history of Cornell. You have given much of your life to strengthening your college and your church, thus investing yourself in institutions that change lives and create a better world.
“Words cannot express our gratitude for what you have done for all of us. Surely future generations will join us in heartfelt appreciation for your leadership and generosity.”
Small is survived by his wife of 47 years Norma Thomas Small, daughter Marcia Small ’75 (Don Hydrick), sons Steven (Laura Tyus) Small and Jeff (Susan) Small, Norma’s son Michael (Jane) Burk ’83, seven grandchildren (including Cornellians Jesse Small ’24, Cole Hydrick ’14, and Lyndsey Burk ’13), and three great-grandchildren. Other Cornellians he leaves are nephew Sean Thomas ’96 and niece Victoria Thomas ’98.
