Best Buy Founder Richard M. Schulze Presents $50 million to University of St. Thomas.

Business Editors

ST. PAUL, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 17, 2000

Largest Gift Reported By Minnesota University

A 59-year-old entrepreneur -- a high school graduate who was never able to attend college -- has endorsed higher education in a big way.

Richard M. Schulze, founder, chairman and CEO of Best Buy Co., Inc., and his wife, Sandra, have presented the University of St. Thomas with a gift of $50 million -- the largest gift in the school's 115-year history and the largest donation ever reported by a Minnesota college or university.

&uot;Our family has been truly blessed,&uot; Schulze said. &uot;We've concluded that it is important for us to give back to our community in a meaningful way. We hope our gift will inspire others, particularly the alumni of St. Thomas, to be generous in their giving.&uot;

Schulze also cited the university's Catholic mission and its stress on values, the strong support of its board and alumni, and the meshing of theory and application within its curriculum as reasons for his gift to the university.

&uot;We realize that this institution shares our entrepreneurial approach to life. ... This is an extremely rare quality among universities,&uot; Schulze added. &uot;The people at St. Thomas realize that accomplishment is the product of calculated and managed risk. It is a result of the strong desire to deliver value and service to the community. Best Buy also was built on these ideals.&uot;

Rev. Dennis Dease, St. Thomas' president said, &uot;I am humbled -- and at the same time excited -- by this extraordinary gift. Dick and Sandy's generosity is an exceptional expression of confidence in this university, which they have come to admire and respect. We are thrilled by such an endorsement and challenged by the potential and inspiration it provides.&uot;

Dease explained that the funds will &uot;substantially strengthen&uot; St. Thomas' nationally recognized initiatives in entrepreneurial education, provide student financial aid and support the university's new school of law, which is set to open next year.

The university's undergraduate entrepreneurship program was named the 1999 National Model Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Program of the Year by the U.S. Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

St. Thomas' other academic programs in entrepreneurial studies include graduate concentrations in venture and franchise management. In addition, the university provides outreach programs such as the John M. Morrison Center for Entrepreneurship, which includes the nationally recognized Institute for Franchise Management and the Small Business Development Center. Other resources for entrepreneurs include the university's Center for Family Enterprise, which provides academic and outreach programs dedicated to the growth and continuity of family businesses; the Small Business Institute, in which student teams get real-world experience assisting metro area businesses; and the FastTrac program for entrepreneurs, which serves Minnesota small businesses and was named best in the nation in each of the past three years.

At least $5 million of the gift, Dease said, has been earmarked as a challenge grant to St. Thomas' annual alumni fund, which provides student financial aid.

More than 81 percent of St. Thomas undergraduates rely on financial aid programs to finance their education. As hard as these middle-income students and their families work to make college education a reality, recent research by the Minnesota Private College Research Foundation indicates that most of the significant growth in the college-age population over the next 20 years will come from lower-income families. The financial need of these students will place increasing stress on college and university financial resources. The average need-based financial aid award at St. Thomas is about $11,500 this year.

Last summer St. Thomas announced its intent to reopen its School of Law. The new school, which will be based at the university's downtown Minneapolis campus, will open in September 2001. Its distinctive Catholic mission is to educate lawyers of the highest caliber to provide moral leadership, stressing ethics and social responsibility.

&uot;Dick and Sandy today are encouraging all of us -- alumni, trustees, students, faculty, staff and our many friends in the Twin Cities -- to offer new opportunities to improve our level of service to our students and to this community,&uot; Dease said. &uot;In short, the Schulzes are challenging us to help us make a quantum leap forward to new levels of accomplishment.&uot;

The Chronicle of Higher Education's Dec. 13, 1999, list of the nation's largest private gifts and grants to higher education since 1967 includes only 60 larger gifts to U.S. institutions.

Schulze, who grew up in the St. Thomas neighborhood and attended Nativity of Our Lord School about a mile from the campus, is a 1958 graduate of St. Paul Central High School. He had intended to enroll at St. Thomas after graduation, but service in the Minnesota Air National Guard and work for his father's electronics distribution company derailed his plans.

Schulze, an entrepreneur, leveraged his assets to follow his dream and opened a small audio-components store, Sound of Music, in 1966. It expanded and evolved into what we know as Best Buy. In November 1999, Schulze was named National Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst &Young.

Analysts predict that Best Buy will report sales of $12.5 billion at the end of its current fiscal year. The company ranks among the nation's top 200 companies on the Fortune 500 list. Best Buy, the leader in consumer electronics technology and entertainment, employs more than 60,000 nationwide through 354 stores in 37 states.

Although Schulze never had the opportunity to join the St. Thomas student body at the traditional time, he has been as supportive of the university as many of its most ardent alumni -- so much so that the university awarded him an honorary doctor of laws degree in December 1998. Of the Schulzes' four children, two attended St. Thomas, and Schulze accepted an invitation to join the university's board of trustees in 1995. He serves on the board's Executive and Institutional Advancement committees. He also served on the advisory board that oversaw the construction of St. Thomas' Frey Science and Engineering Center, which opened in 1997.

Dease called Schulze &uot;the quintessential entrepreneur. His innate leadership skills, entrepreneurial spirit and business acumen are special traits that serve the university well.&uot;

The University of St. Thomas, a coeducational, Catholic university, enrolls some 10,000 students. It is Minnesota's largest private university.