A deferred gift of $1 million from ISU alumnus John Foster, will endow the George Burnet Chair in Chemical Engineering. Foster is a former student of retiring Interim Engineering Dean George Burnet.

Foster, now a retired patent lawyer at age 45, earned his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in 1965 when Burnet was the head of the chemical engineering department. He attributes the path his career took to Burnet’s counseling when he was thinking of switching his major in his junior year, according to a press release. Burnet also helped him find an internship in DuPont’s patent department.

Burnet, who was Foster’s academic advisor since his freshman year, said Foster was a very deserving student. “He was capable and professional, and was outstanding in the work he did here,” Burnet said, “all I did was to provide him with opportunities.”

Foster said that his loyalty to ISU was “engendered in large measure by the fact that George Burnet was very good [to him],” according to the press release.

A colleague of Burnet’s in the department, Charles Glatz, said that the money will be received after Burnet dies. “A deferred gift is a pledge to donate a sum of money,” he said.

“A chair position carries a lot of honor,” said Glatz, “it is an attractive position and it will help attract other highly qualified people to our department.”

Tom Wheelock, a colleague in the department who has worked with Burnet since the late 1950’s, said that Burnet is “a very outstanding member of the faculty.” “It has always been a pleasure to work with him,” Wheelock said.

“The endowment is a wonderful thing,” he said, “it will enhance the prestige of the department and the university.” This is the third endowed chair of $1 million or more given to the College of Engineering in recent years.

Foster is still counsel to a law firm in Washington, D.C., and is a general patent counsel for Pall Corporation, a Fortune 500 fluid-filtration company in New York.