Hillsdale College Board of Trustee member Jack E. Stalsby, 88, died Oct. 15.
“I liken him to a grandpa that you love seeing because he always had that tidbit of wisdom from some unexpected place,” said senior Noah Bader, recipient of a scholarship funded by Stalsby.
Stalsby made the college and his scholarship recipients his family after his wife Greta Sue Wright passed away and no other family remained.
Stalsby was born on Aug. 3, 1926, in Conroe, Texas. After his father was killed in an automobile accident in 1928, his mother raised him alone. Bader said Stalsby’s resulting close relationship with his mother largely defined his life and formed his attitude that made him so successful.
“He’d say, ‘She couldn’t give me money, but she gave me something more valuable — a mindset,’” Bader said.
This mindset is reflected in Stalsby’s self-appointed creed, which was originally written by Dean Alfange, an American statesman who served in the U.S. Army during World War II. After reading the creed, Stalsby identified with its sentiment so much that he adopted it for his own life and included it with his self-written obituary.
“I do not choose to be a common man. It is my right to be uncommon — if I can, I seek opportunity — not security. I do not wish to be a kept citizen, humbled and dulled by having the state look after me. I want to take the calculated risk; to dream and to build, to fail and succeed,” it says. “It is my heritage to stand erect, proud and unafraid, to think and act for myself, to worship as I please, to enjoy the benefit of my creations, and to face the world boldly and say, ‘This I have done,’ All this is what it means to be an American.”
Chief Administrative Officer Rich Péwé confirmed the creed’s applicability to Stalsby.
“Jack was a self-made man,” Péwé said. “He was enthusiastic about everything and delightfully witty. It was always enjoyable to be with him.”
After serving in the Army Air Forces during WWII, Stalsby earned a business administration degree and majored in economics at the University of Houston in 1949.
He plunged into the oil business with Conoco Inc. in 1955, moved to Texas Eastern Transmission in 1967, then Oil Daily in 1970 before beginning his own business, Stalsby, Inc., in 1974.
“Finding his stride as an oil marketer, he developed as an entrepreneur, investor, publisher, and banker,” Stalsby said in his obituary.
His other accomplishments included founding the Stalsby’s “Who’s Who’s in Petroleum Supply” series of directories commonly used in the oil industry, now known as “OPIS/Stalsby”; designing the Stalsby Petroleum Supply and Accounting computer software program; and serving as the chairman of the board for Ashford Bank when it merged with mBank in 1981.
While Stalsby valued his education in helping him achieve these things, one of his most notable quotes was that a college diploma “did not make you smarter than anyone else, but it did make you equal.”
He later founded the Stalsby Foundation to give students the financial backing to accomplish their own education goals. The University of Houston, Hillsdale, and Hope College all receive scholarship grants from the foundation.
Despite his diversity of donations, President Larry Arnn said Hillsdale was Stalsby’s favorite.
“Jack was a Texan through and through,” Arnn said. “He attended the University of Houston, and loved that college, but his deeper affection was here.”
Bader agreed, saying that Stalsby held Hillsdale students in high regard because they hold the same mindset that motivated him throughout his long life.
“He loved Hillsdale because students are challenged to be more than just a certain speciality. They have to go through all the other disciplines, even the ones they might not be comfortable with, because that’s the liberal arts, and it gives us that mindset that we can do it,” Bader said.
“For him, watching us grow up and be successful was better than his own success.”
Director of Student Records and Financial Aid Rich Moeggenberg further attested to this sentiment.
“He had an expectation that his recipients not only meet the scholarship’s stringent grade point requirement, but also encouraged them to get involved on campus,” Moeggenberg said. “He wanted them to make a difference in their world.”
After serving on the college’s Board of Trustees since September 2007, many say Stalsby’s work ethic, passion, and humor will be missed.
“He listened carefully and made good comments. He loved the college, understood its mission, and helped in every way he could,” Arnn said. “He supported that with all his heart and a serious portion of his assets.”
After forming a close relationship with Stalsby and even being influenced to pursue business ventures from his advice, Bader expressed his thankfulness for Stalsby’s generosity.
“From my second meeting with him, we were absolute bros,” Bader said. “Since he had no family, we were his family, and it was beautiful to be a part of that.”
