Posted on Mon, Apr. 05, 2004
Lawson Software Founder Gives Oklahoma Christian University $33 Million Gift
By Jim Stafford, The Daily Oklahoman Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Apr. 5 - Oklahoma Christian University alumnus H. Richard Lawson, who founded a software company that became a worldwide business, has made a gift of stock to the university valued at more than $33 million, officials said Friday.

Lawson, founder and chairman of St. Paul, Minn.-based Lawson Software Inc., and his wife, Pat, gave 4 million shares of Lawson Software Inc. stock to the university, university President Mike E. O'Neal said.

Calculated at the stock's closing price of $8.36 Friday in trading on the Nasdaq National Market, the shares would have a value of $33.4 million.

"This gift is monumental for Oklahoma Christian," O'Neal said. "It will give us the financial strength to be here throughout the 21st century and continue doing the good work among the students and community that Oklahoma Christian is known for."

Richard Lawson co-founded Lawson Software in 1975, nine years after he graduated from Oklahoma Christian with a degree in computer science. Pat Lawson has served both Lawson Software and numerous charitable causes since her graduation from Oklahoma Christian in 1967 with a degree in elementary education.

"Richard and Pat Lawson are just marvelous," O'Neal said. "Their view is it all belongs to the Lord, and they just want to use it for good things. They are just servants passing it through.

"We thank God for giving the Lawsons such generous and caring hearts and for instilling in them a passion for Christian higher education."

The Lawsons live in Dallas, and Richard Lawson serves on the Oklahoma Christian Board of Trustees. They were honored for their gift and work on behalf of the university Thursday night at the Oklahoma Christian Associates dinner, which is held each spring in honor of OC friends and benefactors.

Lawson attributed his success and that of his company to "the knowledge I gained here and the spiritual values that I gained here."

The Lawsons' children also graduated from OC, and he said the gift would assure that the university would carry on its mission with a solid financial foundation.

"It's very important to us that Oklahoma Christian has financial strength for the future," he said. "It's God's money, not ours. Being good stewards of what we consider to be His money, what better place to put it back than Oklahoma Christian?"

The unrestricted gift will be used to build the university's endowment, said O'Neal. It is among several major gifts the university has received in recent years, including a gift of $40 million over 20 years made by the late Edward L. Gaylord, former editor and publisher of The Oklahoman.

"We would expect the university to use our gift to assure its financial security so that it can do what it is supposed to do," Lawson said. "And that is to provide a high quality educational environment combined with Christian and spiritual values the university was founded upon."

In the past 29 years, Lawson Software has grown into a company with annual revenue of $344 million by providing business software to large and mid-sized organizations in health care, retail, professional services, public sector, financial services and other strategic markets.

It has offices and affiliates in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia and employs about 1,600 people worldwide.

Richard Lawson joined the Oklahoma Christian Board of Trustees in 1994. He was named an Outstanding Alumnus from OC's College of Science and Engineering in 1998. Purdue University, from which he earned a master's degree in computer science in 1968, named him a School of Science Distinguished Alum in 2002.

"Richard and Pat Lawson continue to demonstrate the qualities of servant leadership through their gifts of time, resources and counsel to Oklahoma Christian," said Don Millican, chairman of the Board of Trustees. "We are thankful for their wonderful spirit and blessed by their support of Christian education on this campus."