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The Ogden company formerly known as Flying J has donated $3.5 million to the business schools of Utah's two biggest public universities.
The Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University and the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah each will receive $1.75 million, FJ Management Inc. said Monday.
Each school will get $1 million to fund new career services centers that will bear the Flying J name. Each will get an additional $750,000 over a 15-year period for FJ Management employees who apply for scholarships.
Crystal Call Maggelet, FJ Management's CEO, said the gifts fulfilled her late father's vision to help young people further their education. Jay Call founded Flying J in 1968. He died in 2003 when a plane he was piloting crashed in Idaho.
"My father died suddenly at a young age," Maggelet said Monday. "He was generous every day in small ways, but never had much of an opportunity to give back in ways that could help students for years to come.
"He started with nothing, but through hard work and determination he built Flying J to become one of North America's largest diesel fuel retailers. This gift will help hundreds of students accomplish their educational dreams," Maggelet said.
Taylor Randall, dean of the U's business school, said the donations will help students before and after graduation.
"This donation is helping to fund our new career services center. [It will be] the first time the business school has had a specific facility dedicated to career enhancement," Randall said.
The donation will help students pay for their higher education, Douglas Anderson, dean of Utah State's business school, said.
"Countless students will benefit from FJ Management's generosity. The advantages born from these scholarships will reach far beyond the classroom as they help build future business and civic leaders," Anderson said.
FJ Management is the name Flying J adopted after the restructured company emerged from bankruptcy in 2010. FJ Management was converted from an oil company whose main business was a network of travel plazas and truck stops in the U.S. and Canada into a holding company for financial services and energy businesses.
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