The University of Arkansas Remembers Ralph Martin

Ralph E. Martin, a 1958 graduate of the University of Arkansas College of Engineering, and long-time benefactor of the university, passed away February 19, 2011, in Tyler, Texas. For many years, Martin strongly supported the chemical engineering department, the college and the university overall. In 2005, he made a gift of $5 million to the university to endow the Ralph E. Martin Department of Chemical Engineering.

“Ralph Martin was instrumental to the advancement of the College of Engineering,” said Chancellor G. David Gearhart. “He had a substantial impact on the university not only through financial contributions but through his companionship and loyalty. The campus community has lost a special friend and alumnus.”

Creating endowments for faculty and student support, Martin’s gift has been used in many ways to enhance the efforts of faculty and to provide opportunities to students that they would not have otherwise had — both now and in the future. Martin was interested in what the faculty and students were doing, and he took every opportunity to meet with students and talk with faculty in addition to serving on the College of Engineering Dean's Advisory Council and the University Chancellor's Advisory Board.

“There are a few names that are nearly synonymous with the College of Engineering,” said Dean Saxena, “and Ralph Martin will always be one of those names. He was dedicated to the work of our students and faculty, and he believed in our college more than words can say. His generous contributions and sound advice over the years helped to bring our college to the level at which it sits today. I offer my deepest condolences to his loved ones. Ralph will be missed immensely by the U of A family.”

Martin was inducted into the University of Arkansas Engineering Hall of Fame in 2003. He was also an inaugural inductee in the Arkansas Academy of Chemical Engineers in 2005.