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Jake Jabs donating $25 million to Montana State University

American Furniture Warehouse leader is 1952 MSU grad

Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, October 17, 2011

Jake Jabs

BOZEMAN, Mont. — American Furniture Warehouse President and CEO Jake Jabs is donating $25 million to Montana State University's College of Business here, the largest gift in the history of the state's higher education system.

According to a release from the university, MSU will seek government approval to build a new College of Business on the Bozeman campus, aiming to break ground in 2013 and complete it in 2015.

Jabs, a 1952 MSU graduate with a degree in vocational agriculture, and the longtime leader of the Englewood, Colo.-based Top 100 company AFW, gave $3 million to the MSU last year to establish the Jake Jabs Center for Entrepreneurship for the New West.

"I hope my gifts inspire others to contribute to the future of entrepreneurship education at MSU," Jabs said in the release. "So many of us in business have been so well served by our education from Montana State, we should do what we can to help the next generations be successful too."

MSU said it will use Jabs' gift for the new college as well as to add new scholarships and new academic programs in entrepreneurships, to enhance professional skills development and to foster cooperative work between business students and students in other disciplines.

American Furniture Warehouse is No. 24 on Furniture/Today's Top 100 with 2010 estimated furniture, bedding and accessories sales of $300 million at 11 Colorado stores.

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Jabs gives record $25 million to Montana State

Nov 4, 2011

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