Iowa State Sweethearts Now Share Their Success

Soon after he graduated from Iowa State in 1964, a bright young man with a master’s degree in animal science headed for Chicago’s downtown loop to take a job with the American Meat Institute.

Now, after a long, successful career in the meat industry, Marv Walter and his wife, Jan, are supporting the Iowa State program he credits with launching his career. The couple recently stepped forward with a $100,000 gift to the Animal Science Corridor project — a Campaign Iowa State fundraising priority. The project links research and teaching in the areas of dairy and beef cattle as well as swine, turkey, egg, equine, and sheep studies to include a discovery facility and a multi-species animal pavilion.

The Walters began contributing to Iowa State shortly after Marv left his job as a commodity broker on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange in 1968 to return to Ames. Through the years, their gifts to the Alpha Gamma Rho Educational Fund, the National Cyclone Club and the 4-H Foundation have gone a long way to assist those programs. Their generous leadership has made a difference in so many arenas.

“People tend to give to what hits their hot buttons, so we’ve tried to share some of our resources, both in time and material, with the university,” says Marv. As a student, he was a member of award-winning livestock and meat judging teams, “where we really had an opportunity to represent our university and our state.”

Marv and Jan met while he worked as a graduate student in the lower level of Curtiss Hall and Jan worked one floor up as an administrative assistant to the dean of the College of Agriculture. “Just living in the campus environment I felt like I experienced some of the good parts of the campus life,” says Jan, who has remained involved in 4-H programs through the years.

After the couple moved to Ames, Marv and his partners built Dayton Road Development Corporation as well as several affiliated businesses including Carriage House Meat & Provision, Ames Processed Foods and Webster City Custom Meats. It was the beginning of a long list of affiliated ag-based businesses he helped develop through the years.

Today, Marv and Jan spend most of their time in their native Iowa (he’s from Watkins; she’s from St. Ansgar) with a few weeks in Arizona in the winter. They have two children, who are both ISU graduates, and three grandchildren living in Ames.

Marv is a past president of the ISU Alumni Association, a foundation governor, secretary of the ISU Foundation board of directors, and a member of the national campaign committee.

Through the campaign, he says, “I see a strong and supportive response from alumni across the United States who want to help. I think the future of the university is very bright with the excellent leadership we have right now. With good people in the right positions, we can make great progress.”

Both he and Jan believe it’s important to give back to your alma mater. “We love Iowa State and we love being here,” Jan says, “and when you see the people from across the country return and support Iowa State, it’s just amazing. Many come back two or three times a year to be involved, and it’s a wonderful thing.”

Marv agrees. “I think when people consider what they like about Iowa State and what they’ve received from it, they’ll understand how much the university has meant to them in shaping their careers and their lives.”