Major donor dies at 86

Ben Wolford

Mural gave nearly $5M to Kent State

The namesake of Kent State’s Olga A. Mural Baseball Field, among other facilities, died May 30 at age 86. Mural, a major university donor, gave nearly $5 million in donations to the university.

“There has never been anyone who gave to the university in the fashion that she did,” said Joe Macedo, associate vice president of the center for gift and estate planning. “She gave to the widest array of any donor in the history of the program.”

Some of her donations include $1 million to the baseball program, gifts to the College of Business Administration and the College of Nursing and various scholarships.

She also donated her house.

“The first thing she ever said to me was, ‘Do you guys take houses?'” Macedo said.

Her home was her first donation to the university in 2001. When they sold the home, the money went toward the creation of Founders Scholarships.

Mural attended Kent State in 1941, Macedo said.

Of Mural’s $1 million donation to the baseball program, $750,000 went toward baseball facilities, while the rest went toward scholarships.

“Olga was a big part of our family at Kent State baseball,” said baseball coach Scott Stricklin. “We loved her dearly, and it was a great relationship we had with her.”

Her donation to the College of Nursing went toward the April 23 completion of a simulation laboratory that recreates real nursing situations. The facility was named after her.

In the College of Business, her donation went toward the annual expenses of its financial engineering trading floor, which also bears her name.

“The most important thing in the world to her was making sure kids got an education,” Macedo said.

Contact principal reporter Ben Wolford at [email protected].