Magazine-Winter-2025 - Flipbook - Page 48
THE RISING TIDE 2.0 CAPITAL CAMPAIGN UPDATE
VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT
Frances Fisher
Campaign Cabinet Member
Late University of Alabama alumni Lee J. Styslinger Jr., left, and R. James Kelly
UA ALUMS, INFLUENTIAL BUSINESSMEN
HONORED WITH NAMINGS
The Rising Tide 2.0 Capital Campaign’s surge of legacy-enhancing gifts
continued in the Fall 2025 semester, honoring the lives and business careers
of UA alumni Lee J. Styslinger Jr. and Jim Kelly.
On Oct. 17, The University of Alabama announced the Lee J. Styslinger
Jr. College of Engineering following a $25 million gift commitment from his
wife, Catherine. Styslinger is the third college on UA’s campus to be named,
joining the Culverhouse College of Business and the J. Frank Barefield Jr.
College of Arts & Sciences, announced earlier this year.
On Nov. 7, the University announced the R. James Kelly LEAD (Leveraging
Engagement to Advance Development) Program in the Culverhouse
College of Business following a $5 million gift from Jim’s wife, Ginger. The
gift is part of an $8.5 million charitable commitment Ginger has made to
LEAD, beginning with her first gift of $1.5 million in 2022, $1 million of which
established the R. James Kelly Endowed Business LEAD Support Fund.
Lee Jr. pursued a degree in mechanical engineering at UA before leaving
at age 19 to take over management of the Birmingham-based Alabama Truck
Equipment Company after his father and the company’s founder passed
away. Now known as Altec Inc., the company became a worldwide leader in
providing equipment and services to the electric utility, telecommunications
and tree care industries under Lee Jr.’s leadership.
He passed away in 2021 at age 88.
“Lee was a humble man, but he would be so proud to know the college
was being honored in his name,” Catherine said. “He would have wanted
other students to have the education that he received there.”
Jim earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting in 1969 and served in the
Army before earning a master’s in accounting in 1973. He and Ginger, who
earned a nursing degree at UA in 1969, married that same year. Jim worked
for PricewaterhouseCoopers and was president and COO of Family Dollar
Stores Inc. before his retirement in 2011.
Jim’s willingness and enthusiasm to help others marked his career in
business and were core traits reflected throughout his personal life before he
passed away in 2021.
“Jim would not talk about how impactful he might have been in
someone’s career or life journey,” Ginger said. “LEAD just cemented the
idea that we needed to do something to memorialize that and make the
opportunity available to others to have folks in their lives do the same thing
for them.”
46
ALABAMA ALUMNI MAGAZINE
There was never a doubt that Frances
Fisher would pursue a college degree at
The University of Alabama.
Fisher grew up in Tuscaloosa, was a
fourth-generation UA student and two-time
legacy of the Zeta chapter of Kappa Delta at
UA, which includes her great-grandmother
Frances Searcy, a founding member of the
chapter.
Her connections to the Capstone extend
even deeper and ultimately guided her career
into public service and philanthropy; her family
was close friends with former U.S. Senator Richard
Shelby and his wife, Annette, both UA alumni.
“I found myself outside the grocery story when I
was 5 years old, handing out flyers when he ran for
state senate,” Fisher recalls.
Fisher interned for Shelby while attending UA
and then worked for George H. W. Bush’s first
presidential campaign in 1988. She later worked in the
West Wing with White House Counsel Boyden Gray
before serving as executive director of the National
Environmental Policy Institute for nine years. Her work
on Capitol Hill was a catalyst for her 30-plus years of
policy, advocacy and philanthropy in Washington, D.C.,
Palm Beach, Florida – where she currently resides – and
Tuscaloosa, where Fisher serves on the cabinet of The
Rising Tide 2.0 Capital Campaign.
“I love preservation, so the ability to enhance the
campus architecturally and preserve it, but to also
combine the collaborative academic opportunities,
research support, mentorship and scholarships – all of
those things have been interwoven in my experiences on
other boards.
“The Rising Tide cabinet ties those pillars together
for a better future for the next generation, those who
will go on to shape the futures of their communities.”
Fisher and her husband, Jeffrey, made a $500,000
gift toward UA’s Campaign for the Performing Arts,
resulting in the naming of the Frances and Jeffrey
Fisher Courtyard at the Smith Family Center for the
Performing Arts located on the Bryce Campus.
“I’m honored and appreciative to be a part of
something significant and give back after being
away from my hometown,” she said, “and for
the chance to be with so many gifted business
and community leaders who’ve gone on to
be so successful in their lives.”
