By Blaire Leible Garwitz
April 17, 1969, is a day Charles Ingene, AB ’69, will never forget, and it marks his most memorable WashU experience. That night, the Grateful Dead played a concert on the Brookings Quad that stretched into the early morning hours, ending only after police received numerous noise complaints. Ingene remembers paying $1.50 to attend alongside his classmate Bob Shelli, AB ’70. They heard unreleased songs such as “Dark Star,” which later became one of the band’s most famous songs, and lasted a whopping 21-minutes for the excited crowd.
Experiences like that night instilled in Ingene a lasting appreciation for WashU. Inspired by his education and subsequent career in academia, he recently made an estate commitment to endow two professorships: the Charles A. Ingene Professorship in Marketing at Olin Business School and the Charles A. Ingene Professorship in Economics in Arts & Sciences.
Ingene’s gift will help WashU shape the academic experience for generations by attracting and retaining exceptional faculty. Endowed professorships represent the university’s highest faculty honor, with annual payouts supporting salaries and research endeavors.
“Faculty excellence is what ultimately distinguishes one university from another,” says Mark D. West, provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs. “Our professors create new knowledge, teach with rigor and care, serve our community, and mentor the next generation of scholars and leaders. Endowed professorships are one of the best ways we can support and sustain that excellence.”
Ingene says his WashU education would not have been possible without financial assistance.
“We didn’t have a lot of money when I was growing up in upstate New York, so I had planned on attending a nearby junior college,” he says. “Then my high school guidance counselor introduced me to an admissions representative from WashU. He saw my potential and offered me a full scholarship.”
To remove financial barriers for other talented students, Ingene also designated a portion of his bequest to establish three scholarships for undergraduate students with financial need: the Samuel Ingene Scholarship (named for his late father); the Helen and Elmer Schwind Scholarship (named for his late grandparents); and the Mary Ann Bischoff Scholarship (named for his aunt).
Ingene’s time at WashU set the stage for his decades-long career in academia. “I was studying economics, which was a rigorous field,” he says. “One of my professors invited me to sit in on a doctoral class. I remember being totally in awe that he thought enough of me to let me join the class. That opportunity showed me what was possible.”
Ingene went on to Brown University, where he earned a master’s degree and a doctorate. An award-winning teaching career followed, and he served as a professor of marketing at the University of Oklahoma; the University of Texas at Dallas; the University of Washington, Seattle; Chinese University of Hong Kong; and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
He became an expert in distribution channels, franchising, retailing, labor productivity, pricing, and mathematical models, and published numerous papers and books on these topics. Ingene also edited several marketing, economics, and business journals and served as a consultant to more than 20 organizations and corporations, including General Motors Corporation and USCellular (now T-Mobile).
In addition, his leadership and experience led him to provide expert witness testimony for the Taiwan Fair Trade Commission, Internal Revenue Service, and many other organizations. In recognition of his accomplishments, he received a Distinguished Alumni Award from Arts & Sciences in 1999.
Most recently, Ingene’s path led him back to WashU, where he served as a visiting professor at Olin Business School and was able to focus on his ongoing research. “Being able to come back to campus in this capacity was such a full circle moment,” he says.
Ingene also remains connected to the university as a member of the Eliot Society, which celebrates donors who choose to support the Annual Fund. His lifelong relationship with the university is one of the reasons he feels compelled to invest in its future. “My WashU experience has meant everything to me,” he says. “Had I not gone to WashU, my life would have been remarkably different and not nearly as fulfilling.”
Like Charles, you can support the work of WashU through a planned gift. Please contact the Office of Planned Giving to learn how you can create your own legacy at WashU.
plannedgiving@wustl.edu | 800.835.3503 | 314.935.5373