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R.W. "Bill" Daniels, Jr.
R.W. "Bill"
Daniels, Jr. was born in Greeley, Colorado in 1920, and
moved later with his family to Hobbs, New Mexico, where
his father established an insurance firm. He then
attended the New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell
with his brother Jack, and graduated from its high
school in 1939, and its junior college in 1941. Soon
after college, he joined the US Navy and later served
honorably as a naval fighter pilot in World War II, for
which he was decorated.
Possessing a
keen sense for business entrepreneurship and expressing
charity towards others, he not only advanced the
microwave technologies that enhance television signals
broadcasted to rural communities in 1952, and formed
Daniels and Associates in 1958 to further advance
technologies in cable television, but he also dedicated
much of his efforts and income to providing “kids” with
the opportunities and means, via his establishment of
the Young Americans Bank in Colorado, to “learn early
about simple economics” and to succeed in life,
regardless of their beginnings.
Thus, in
addition to being recognized widely as the “Father of
cable television”, Bill Daniels is known even more
widely today as a philanthropist, and the Daniels Fund,
a charity he established shortly before his death in
March of 2000, supports programs for the homeless,
elderly and handicapped, youth who have parents in
rehabilitation programs, and college scholarships for
underprivileged students.
Bill Daniels
repeatedly turned his attention to the needs of cadets
at his alma mater. In 1985, he dedicated nearly $
150,000 towards creation of the Daniels Television
Studio completed at the Institute in 1986. In
1999, he provided $5 million in endowment to recognize
four individuals and one family long associated with the
Institute, resulting in scholarships, support of
athletics, and the discretionary funding of special
Institute projects benefiting the cadets. In
2001, his philanthropy, via the Daniels Fund, provided
the Institute with $20 million in a Challenge Grant,
with the provision that the alumni and others match his
gift. A part of that gift was used to construct the
new Daniels Leadership Center at the Institute, where
programs of study in leadership and related offerings
shall benefit cadets as well as their larger educational
and civic communities.
As in life,
Bill Daniels and the life he led provide a legacy that
is seldom matched: he was a decorated war hero, a
successful and ethical business entrepreneur, a
humanitarian, and he shall continue to be remembered by
generations to come, as an NMMI graduate who led with
uncompromising character and charity.
For more
information please visit the following links:
Daniels Fund
Bill Daniels Bio
Diane Denish
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