3-5-08

Media Release

Resers Honored with Martin Chaves Lifetime Achievement Award

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State University has presented Al and Pat Reser of Beaverton, Ore., with the prestigious Martin Chaves Lifetime Achievement Award. The couple was honored at an awards banquet in Rancho Mirage, Calif., on Tuesday, March 4.

Chaves was a four-year letterman and captain of the 1942 Rose Bowl team. A former president of the Beaver Athletic Student Fund, he was an influential booster in various fundraising activities. The annual award is presented to people who have made outstanding lifetime contributions to OSU Athletics.

The Resers have served on multiple OSU boards as volunteer leaders. Both serve in leadership roles at their family’s company, Reser’s Fine Foods – Al as chairman of the board; Pat as corporate secretary.

Among other major donations to OSU, the Resers’ gifts to expand OSU’s football stadium reinvigorated the entire athletic program. This fall they also made a critical pledge to help construct the Linus Pauling Science Center, a centerpiece initiative in The Campaign for OSU.

“Al and Pat are exceptional friends of OSU and OSU athletics,” said Bob De Carolis, the university’s athletic director. “In the years since they were students here, their love of the game has evolved into passionate advocacy. Their vision for the program and persuasive articulation, combined with the example they have set of generous support, have led many other people to get behind OSU athletics.”

Al Reser received his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Oregon State in 1960 – the same year, Pat Reser received her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from OSU. She went on to earn her master’s degree in special education from Portland State University. She co-chairs the OSU Foundation Campaign Steering Committee, helping lead the university’s first comprehensive fundraising campaign. She is a member of the OSU Foundation Board of Trustees and chair of its External Relations Committee. She has served on the College of Science Board of Visitors and on the Women and Philanthropy Advisory Council.

Similarly, Al Reser has served on the Beaver Club Board of Directors and as an OSU Foundation trustee. He was named the Oregon Entrepreneur of the Year by the Oregon Entrepreneurs Forum in 2000, inducted into the OSU College of Business Hall of Fame in 2006, and awarded the 2006 Governor’s Gold Award.

Al and Pat Reser have five grown children: Martin Reser, ’83; Mark Reser, ’88; Michael Reser; Michelle Bottaro, ’90, ’93; Mindy Reser, ’94.