03/07/2007

Business in brief

Horticultural station gets $26,000 gift

TRAVERSE CITY — A new endowment fund established by the Northwest Michigan Horticultural Research Station received a $26,000 gift from a retired downstate fruit farmer.

Kenneth E. Bull, of Bailey, north of Grand Rapids, donated money to establish two funds at the Leelanau County research station to be used for support programs and provide scholarships for area students to study horticulture at Michigan State University. The foundation board said it will be used as a challenge grant to raise $200,000 for the endowment by the end of 2008.

Bull spent more than 80 years in Michigan's fruit industry, raising cherries, apples and other fruit on a 500-acre farm in Casnovia Township. He served as a director for the Michigan Farm Bureau, was a member of the Michigan Cherry Committee and received distinguished service awards from the Michigan Horticultural Society and Michigan State University.

"The establishment of permanent funds that benefit the research station and area students is a wonderful way to insure that his generosity and leadership will leave an everlasting legacy,” said Rick Sayler, chairman of the research station's foundation board.

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