Draft:Forest Akers
auto executive and public university trustee
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Forest H. Akers (December 21, 1886 - December 8, 1966) was an auto-industry executive and member of the Board of Trustees of Michigan Agricultural College (M.A.C.), now Michigan State University.[1]
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Forest Akers | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 21, 1886 Williamston, MI, U.S. |
| Died | December 8, 1966 (aged 79) Detroit, MI, U.S. |
| Spouse | Alice Rockwell |
Biography
Akers was born on December 21, 1886, on a farm near Williamston, MI. Akers was class president at Williamston High School and graduated in 1905. He attended Michigan Agricultural College from 1905 to 1908. Akers majored in forestry and was a pitcher on the M.A.C. Aggies baseball team.[1]
Following the 1907 school year, he was asked to leave the college due to poor academic performance and trouble-making. To honor the college's 50th anniversary, President Theodore Roosevelt attended the commencement ceremonies on May 31, 1907. During his speech a powder keg exploded, shattering the windows in nearby dormitories and the college’s greenhouses. Akers was accused of spearheading this prank, a charge he adamantly denied.[2]
Upon leaving M.A.C., Akers worked as a plow and farm machinery salesman for Oliver Chilled Plow Works for $60/month. Around 1920 he began working for the Ohio Rake Company out of Dayton, OH until joining the REO Motor Car Co. as a salesman in 1914. He advanced to sales manager in 1917. In 1920 he joined the Dodge Division of the Chrysler Corp, was promoted to manager of the Detroit region in 1930, and again to Vice President in 1938. He retired from Chrysler in 1947.[2]
Akers ran as a Republican candidate for the State Board of Agriculture (now known as the MSU Board of Trustees). He was elected in 1939 because, according to Akers, “nobody else wanted it.” He continued to serve on the Board until 1957. During an interview with Larry Werner, Sports Editor for The State News, Akers stated that “Serving on the board for 18 years gave me a focal point. Michigan State has served as an outlet for my energies and has been my chief interest for years, and will remain so as long as I live.”[1]
During his tenure on the Board, Akers began to give back to MSU as a benefactor. In 1947 he established a $45,000 scholarship and loan fund for students. This included the Forest H. Akers Scholarship, awarded once per year to caddies or the children of employees of the Detroit Golf Club, where Akers was a member. The scholarship covered the full cost of tuition, room rent, books, and laboratory fees at Michigan State University. Recipients were required to live in campus dorms for the first two years at MSU and were prohibited from drinking alcohol or smoking tobacco. In 2019, the Detroit Golf Club Caddie Scholarship Foundation assumed the administration of the Forest H. Akers Scholarship at Michigan State University, under the guidance of the Detroit Golf Club Board of Directors.[2]
In 1958 Akers was named trustee emeritus and awarded an honorary Doctor of Law degree by MSU. That same year the first Forest Akers Golf Course was completed, for which Akers donated money and property towards construction. A second golf course named for Akers was later built and opened in 1966.[1]
In 1963 a new residence hall at MSU was built and named in honor of Forest and Alice Akers. His wife Alice died November 29, 1962.[1]
Later in his life Akers was asked if he would support the college administration’s decision to expel a student who conducted themself like Akers had as an Aggie. Akers replied “They were never, in all their history, more right.” Akers died December 8, 1966 at the age of 79 at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit after a long illness.[1]