Wallace N. Rasmussen*

The son of a Danish immigrant, Wallace Rasmussen was born in 1914 and was raised on a dairy farm in Nebraska. By the time he graduated from high school at the age of 16, the Great Depression and dust storms had devastated the Rasmussen farm, leaving the family penniless. Rasmussen worked at a series of menial jobs, delivering handbills door to door, hiring himself out as a ranch hand, and even cutting jigsaw puzzles. He vowed that if he ever landed work with a big company, he'd never let go of it.

In 1934, Rasmussen got that elusive job. He hoisted ice onto railroad cars for Beatrice Foods Co., then a Midwest dairy products company with a creamery and ice plant in Lincoln, Nebraska. His mechanical ability took him from chief engineer to plant manager, and his hard work and dedication helped him finally enter corporate management. With each new challenge, Rasmussen studied on his own to master the new job. "I only had a high school education, so I had to educate myself," he said. "Every time I got into something I might not know enough about, I'd go out and buy every book I could find on the subject."

By the 1960s, Rasmussen was working at company headquarters in Chicago, serving in several vice presidential positions. In 1976, he became president and CEO, and a year later, he was chairman and CEO of Beatrice Foods, which had become the nation's largest food processing company and a multibillion-dollar business. After a long and rewarding career with Beatrice, Rasmussen retired in 1980. He was also a board member of Dollar General Corporation and a local mentor to businesswomen striving to move up the corporate ladder.

Upon retirement, Rasmussen committed to spending the rest of his life helping students. Besides five annual scholarships that he sponsored at Belmont University and one at Vanderbilt Medical School, he established the Rasmussen Foreign Student Exchange Program at Belmont University in 1994. Two years later, he funded and established the same program at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois.

Rasmussen always cherished his Horatio Alger Award. He believed that a person does not have to have wealth to be successful. His advice never changed over the years. "Be honest, dependable, learn skills, and treat others as you would like to be treated," he said. "Never cheat, because when you do, you cheat yourself."