Joan and Bob Easton

The year was 1962. Rice was celebrating its semicentennial, and at a podium in Rice Stadium, President John F. Kennedy announced an ambitious plan to send the first man to the moon. In the audience was Bob Easton '66, a freshman who was discovering a new kind of home in Rice.

While Bob was growing up, his family had relocated nearly every year because of his father's line of work in the power plan industry. His five years at Rice provided a newfound stability, and he made the most of it, earning both a B.A. and B.S. in chemical engineering, serving as Baker College's treasurer, producing the first in-college theatre production, managing the Thresher and developing friendships that have lasted to this day.

"Rice was very good to me and really shaped my life," he said. Now, as Rice approaches its centennial in 2012, Bob and his wife, Joan, are helping to shape the life of the university. They established four charitable remainder unitrusts that will not only benefit Rice in the future, but will also provide Bob and Joan and their siblings with a lifetime of quarterly income payments.