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Articles about Major Gifts from Alumni and Friends

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Dave Catron's Influence on Students Honored In Form of Music Scholarship

The Catron Family established the Dave Catron Endowed Scholarship in Music in Dave’s honor upon his retirement from the College of Music.

Catron influenced hundreds of lives as former MSU Spartan Marching Band Director, associate director, and director of undergraduate studies at the College of Music from 1988 to 2002. After an accident that put him in a coma, he received hundreds of letters from former students expressing their concern, and how much Dave had positively influenced their lives. This prompted his wife, Gail, to establish a scholarship fund toward which his former students could contribute. To kick off the scholarship, the family held a retirement dinner/roast in 2002 to raise funds toward it. In attendance were 160 faculty, friends, family and former students of Catron’s––many of which are currently local high school band directors. The dinner raised $7,500 toward the scholarship, and in 2004, Steve Scheid, a former student of Catron’s, stepped in to fully endow it, bringing the new total to $30,000.

“Dave clearly had a huge impact on my life and I wanted to recognize that by endowing this scholarship,” said Scheid. “Very few people have left the impression that Dave did on me and so many others over the years. He instilled a sense of pride and confidence in his organizations, and had the ability to convince people that they could excel. He continued to set the bar higher until he achieved the excellence he was looking for, and at the same time, was able to make all the hard work fun! Dave is the epitome of a great leader dedicated to excellence. I can attribute many of the leadership qualities and small successes I have had to him.”