Leaving a legacy at USF

Bill Byrne of Sioux Falls is an award-winning business writer and an accomplished author whose 1992 business book titled Habits of Wealth was published in eight languages. The text's success helped earn him and his wife, Lynne, a spot on the cover of Fortune magazine, as well as many honors and speaking engagements.

Bill and Lynne are committed civic leaders as well, out of which they have developed a deep appreciation for the mission of the University of Sioux Falls. Nonetheless, it came as a wonderful surprise to leaders at the University when they received a letter from the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation in 2004 indicating that Bill and Lynne had arranged for a substantial future gift to benefit the institution. Their donation will provide scholarships for the study of business and entrepreneurship.

"Lynne and I elected to include the University in our estate plans because, first and foremost, it has maintained a strong Christian core. There is a very caring environment on campus that focuses upon helping young scholars fulfill the three essential human needs—having someone to believe in, having something to believe in and having someone to believe in us. "We also have really good feelings about the institution's entrepreneurial leadership and about its tremendous accomplishments over the past several years. Lynne and I would like to see entrepreneurship furthered through our gift. We believe that many of the problems and challenges in the public and private sectors can be solved through free enterprise and that USF is positioned to help provide that solution. "Business studies at the University of Sioux Falls are also grounded in ethics, which is deeply important to me. To fight an entrepreneurial battle and emerge triumphant is only satisfying when the victory is untarnished. This requires not only outward respectability, but inward integrity.

"Throughout most of our lives, Lynne and I have used a 'shotgun' approach to giving, seeking to assist many fine causes but not making a profound impact on any particular one. Through our estate, we are altering our philosophy by 'rifling' our charitable resources to places like USF, where we believe God is vividly at work and where we believe that young leaders are truly being prepared for lives of service."