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Florida Southern receives gift for
new auditorium sound system

LAKELAND, Fla. (March 11, 2002) - Florida Southern College has received a gift of $125,000 from Jay Corwin Troxel, a retired businessman residing in Lakeland. The donation, given in memory of Troxel's wife, Eloise, will fund a new sound system for Branscomb Auditorium. Troxel is a patron of FSC's Festival of Fine Arts program.

A 1939 graduate of the University of Michigan, Troxel began working as an appraiser for the Federal Housing Authority in Detroit, transferring to the FHA office in Washington D.C. in 1944. In 1946, the Troxels moved back to Michigan and worked together as independent appraisers for banks and mortgage companies. They retired in 1979, spending their winters in Florida, and in 1989 moved to New Port Richey. They relocated to Lakeland in 1991.

Troxel became a philanthropist after his wife's death in 1997, donating $400,000 to the Baltimore chapter of the Society for Progressive Supranuclear Palsy. Eloise Troxel died from the disease, an incurable, degenerative condition that mimics Parkinson's disease. He established scholarships for students majoring in health care at Polk Community College, donated $1 million to the Lighthouse Ministries' shelter for women and children, supported Volunteers in Service to the Elderly (VISTE) in building their new home, gave $450,000 to the Talbot House in Lakeland for a new structure named for his wife, and has consistently donated to "Newspaper with a Heart," the Lakeland Ledger's Christmas fundraising drive. In appreciation of Troxel's donation, FSC will dedicate a Branscomb classroom to the memory of Eloise Troxel, and future Festival of Fine Arts program brochures will include a statement acknowledging Troxel's generous gift of a new sound system for the auditorium.

About Florida Southern College
Florida Southern is a four-year, private, co-educational liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. The college offers more than 40 undergraduate majors and a master of business administration degree accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Located in Lakeland, Fla., the college is home to the largest, single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture in the world.

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