McCoys donate $20 million to Texas State; Business College to be named in their honor

SAN MARCOS – Emmett and Miriam McCoy have pledged the largest gift in the history of Texas State University-San Marcos -- $20 million -- and the university’s College of Business Administration and the new building that will house it will be named in their honor.

The gift will fund endowed chairs and distinguished professorships, undergraduate and graduate scholarships and faculty, student and program development.

The gift was officially accepted and the naming of facilities was approve by the Texas State University System Board of Regents at its meeting in Beaumont on Thursday.

“This is a truly transformational gift and will benefit our students now and for generations to come,” said Texas State President Denise M. Trauth. “It also comes at a pivotal time in the history of the College of Business Administration, when enrollment is breaking records and when we are preparing to move to a new building. To have the McCoy name on this building is a mark of distinction for Texas State.” McCoy Hall is expected to open in the spring of 2006.

Emmett McCoy is the retired chairman and chief executive officer of McCoy’s Building Supply Centers. The McCoys have been married for 58 years.

Denise T. Smart, dean of the Emmett and Miriam McCoy College of Business Administration at Texas State, said, “Emmett McCoy’s business career was characterized by ethics, hard work and integrity. As a couple, Emmett and Miriam McCoy are known as people of generosity and principle. It is an honor to name our College of Business Administration for them. It is a name that will carry us forward, and one we accept with great pride.”

Emmett McCoy said he hoped the couple’s gift could push business programs at Texas State to new levels of excellence.

“We think this gift can make a real difference for the College of Business Administration and will help make it a better college. We believe it can be one of the best in Texas,” he said.

In addition, the university will name the 150-seat teaching theater in the new business building after Dennis and Cindy McCoy. Dennis McCoy, the son of Emmett and Miriam McCoy, was killed in a company plane crash in 1985.

The mission of the McCoy College of Business Administration is to serve 3,500 undergraduate majors, approximately 1,500 undergraduate minors and more than 450 graduate majors. It includes the departments of Accounting, Computer Information Systems and Quantitative Methods, Finance and Economics, Management and Marketing. It is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.

Founded in 1923, McCoy’s Building Supply Centers is a retail building supply company providing a complete array of building materials and service to its customer base of those who are “born to build.” The San Marcos-based McCoy’s employs more than 2,000 people and operates 86 stores in five states – Arkansas, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.