Meet Dick Van Kirk '58

"I want to help create the same life-changing opportunities that only Caltech can offer today's students." - Dick Van Kirk '58

It's your reunion! Come back. Give back.

Let’s celebrate! Our reunion is here. Let’s mark this milestone and reconnect with old friends and with Caltech itself. By returning to campus, you’ll see firsthand how our Institute has changed and grown in renown. You also have the chance to help Caltech grow even further.

I hope you’ll join me in two important activities: Come back for Reunion Weekend on May 17–20, 2018, and give back in recognition of this meaningful moment in your life.

Looking back at the 60 years since my graduation, I can see that studying at Caltech has been the single most significant, life-changing event I’ve experienced.

I’m proud of my career, and Caltech was the basis for what I’ve accomplished—from Procter & Gamble to Ernst & Young, from the 1984 Summer Olympic Games to Special Olympics Southern California. Although I didn’t follow a technical path, my Caltech experience has been invaluable. It has helped me everywhere I’ve gone, thanks to the disciplined thinking, quantitative skills, and orderly approach to problem solving I learned, as well as the credibility that comes with being a Caltech alumnus. Most important, the Institute enabled me to meet my late wife, Janet, and then build the family that’s meant so much to us.

Looking to the years ahead, I want to help create the same life-changing opportunities that only Caltech can offer today’s students.

Caltech alumni make a remarkable impact in the world, particularly in view of the size of our school. The leverage we get is amazing. This is why I give through my reunion—to support the Caltech students of today and tomorrow as they go on to benefit humankind.

You have your own unique Caltech story. Consider the difference that the Institute has made in your life—and the difference the Institute will make in the future—and you will find your own unique reasons to come back and to give back.

I encourage you, with those reasons at heart, to make your reunion gift and to celebrate on campus in May. I hope I’ll see you at Reunion Weekend.

With gratitude,

Dick Van Kirk ’58