{"id":47023,"date":"2016-12-20T22:14:03","date_gmt":"2016-12-20T22:14:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/?p=47023"},"modified":"2017-02-08T18:50:33","modified_gmt":"2017-02-08T18:50:33","slug":"47023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/2016\/12\/20\/47023\/","title":{"rendered":"Steadfast Commitment Helps Grow the Future of Rochester"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Leland<\/a>
Leland and Louise Sundet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In his 88 years, Leland \u201cLee\u201d Sundet has never lost sight of the basics: thrift, generosity, and, most important, Jesus. The retired industrialist and manufacturer adheres to these principles whether he is owning large companies, helping Augsburg improve its signage and redesign its logo, or pledging his most recent gift of $1.5 million to the Rochester campus.<\/p>\n

Sundet learned the basics early, growing up in Spring Grove, Minnesota, where the Norwegian townsfolk all attended the big Lutheran church. \u201cMy father died when I was six months old and my mother was quite ill, so she had to sell everything she had to pay the bills. She got $7.43 a month, and of that, 74 cents went to the church,\u201d recalls Sundet, who has embraced tithing ever since.<\/p>\n

Optimism has also characterized his life. The youngest of three children, he was \u201cthe spoiled baby of the family, and I liked that,\u201d he says. \u201cMy wife, Louise, was also the youngest in her family, and she liked it, too.\u201d After earning an agriculture degree from the University of Minnesota in 1951, Lee owned several companies, including Century Manufacturing, Goodall Manufacturing, Britt Manufacturing, and Fountain Industries. His business acumen earned him such honors as Minnesota\u2019s Small Business Man of the Year and the University of Minnesota\u2019s Outstanding Achievement Award (2001).<\/p>\n

As they prospered during peak career days, these two staunch Lutherans made philanthropy a core value. The Sundet Foundation has made large grants to Lee\u2019s alma mater as well as the Luther Seminary, the Alliance Defense Fund, the Minnehaha Academy, the Courage Center, the Prison Fellowship, and others. And when the president of Augsburg approached him about joining the board, he didn\u2019t hesitate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had more than one employee in our company who had gone to Augsburg, so I knew all about it,\u201d says Sundet, who served as a trustee from 1984 to 1998. \u201cIt was wonderful working with then-president Chuck Anderson. He was such a good listener. We also had very good board members. You always have setbacks, of course, but the board got things done.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Augsburg's<\/a>
Augsburg’s Rochester campus.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sundet was a strong supporter of such programs as Weekend College. Complaining that 80% of people in Minneapolis at that time didn\u2019t know where Augsburg was or what it stood for, he helped form a marketing committee and was instrumental in choosing a new \u201ccross A\u201d logo. He remains steadfast in his commitment to religion and religious freedom as essential to education.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also believe in old-fashioned discipline\u2014\u2018don\u2019t spent it till you\u2019ve earned it.\u2019 That\u2019s a major problem today. When you borrow money, then you spend more money. In my day, everybody paid their own way,\u201d he says. \u201cSome students still pay their way all the way. It\u2019s fun listening to them talk about their sacrifices, and hear how proud they are because they don\u2019t owe anybody. First you give, then you save, then you live on the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doing their part to ease student debt, the Sundets have sponsored a business scholarship at Augsburg since 1992. They also support the Youth and Family Ministry and were early proponents of the Augsburg campus in Rochester, where companies such as Mayo Clinic share their values. \u201cMayo is great planning organization, and they do a lot for people. They have a good ethic and tend not to borrow a lot of money. They tend to give and they tend to save,\u201d Lee says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have met people at Mayo who have gone through the Augsburg program, and I\u2019ve seen what\u2019s it\u2019s done for them. It\u2019s a wonderful thing,\u201d he adds. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t easy to get it started, but it\u2019s fun to look back on. Augsburg has come a long way, and I would love to see it grow there in Rochester.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Cathy Madison<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In his 88 years, Leland \u201cLee\u201d Sundet has never lost sight of the basics: thrift, generosity, and, most important, Jesus. The retired industrialist and manufacturer adheres to these principles whether he is owning large companies, helping Augsburg improve its signage and redesign its logo, or pledging his most recent gift of $1.5 million to the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":47027,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[85,87,88,86,84],"class_list":["post-47023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gift-announcements","tag-marketing","tag-mayo-clinic","tag-rochester","tag-rochester-campus","tag-sundet"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47023"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47113,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47023\/revisions\/47113"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/giving\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}