[List] Article about Walt Woltosz

[Cecil Stokes]

I'm thinking the Walt Woltosz featured in the big story on the front 
page of today's Huntsville Times must be the sameWalt Woltosz I remember 
working at Thiokol in the '70s. I do find him in the 1976 phone book 
sharing a phone number with Hill English. As I recall he had some really 
big ideas, but I didn't think he could work them at the Huntsville 
Division. I guess he came to the same conclusion because he didn't stay 
long. The Walt featured today apparently made big ideas work elsewhere. 
See below and attached photo If you don't take the Times.

Happy New Year everyone!!!

Cec

==================================================================

FRONT PAGE OF 1/1/2020 EDITION OF HUNTSVILLE TIMES

After they announced they were donating $10 million to Auburn University 
for a new football facility, Walt and Ginger Woltosz took a picture with 
defensive tackle Derrick Brown during the coin flip of the Georgia game. 
Walt Woltosz was stunned at how big Brown is in person.

“His head starts up here somewhere,” Woltosz said, extending his arms 
well above his own head. “The guy is huge!”

The big guy is also the perfect example of why the Woltoszs decided to 
donate $10 million to the football program. Brown, who coach Gus Malzahn 
said should have been a legitimate contender for the Heisman trophy, 
which signifies college football’s top player, is projected to be a 
firstround NFL draft pick. As an NFL player, Brown would represent 
Auburn nationally, potentially becoming a more widely known name than 
many of the school’s successful academics, engineers or scientists.

And, in turn, his notoriety could help fuel Auburn’s recruiting efforts.

“Sports are sometimes the front door to the university,” Woltosz said. 
“I know many people around the country know the name Auburn University. 
And they usually think of us as a football school. … But basically 
sports are a way to attract top talent academically.”

THE FOUNDATION FOR GENEROSITY

Walt Woltosz is a 74-year-old Auburn alumnus and father of five who 
loves Chappy’s Deli and brings home half of his muffin to his wife, 
Ginger, a quiet but incredibly attentive woman.

“Together, they’re a very dynamic couple in a very humble way,” Auburn 
Athletic Director Allen Greene said. “You wouldn’t know by looking at 
them that they’re that successful.”

Walt is best known for developing Professor Sir Stephen Hawking’s 
communication system, but he has a long list of inventions, innovations 
and creations under his name. Ginger has been a driving factor behind 
much of his success and his generosity.

Years before Woltosz got into designing communication systems, he 
graduated from Auburn with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering 
and started working at Northrop Services in Huntsville on the space 
shuttle. His job was to figure out how to get the shuttle from the 
launchpad into orbit. The shuttle wouldn’t be launched for another 10 
years, but at the time Woltosz was working on it, they were trying to 
figure out how to get 80-100 more pounds of payload — the amount of 
cargo a shuttle can carry.

Woltosz was in the Air Force before attending Auburn, and he thought 
about how he rolled his plane when he wanted to turn. He decided to put 
the ability to roll into the program and let it run overnight. When he 
came back the next morning, he had an extra 8,000 pounds of payload. 
Now, when you see a space shuttle turn over when it launches, it is 
because of Woltosz’s discovery.

After getting a masters in administrative science from the University of 
Alabama in Huntsville and a masters in aerospace engineering from 
Auburn, Woltosz moved to California to work in the Air Force Rocket 
Propulsion Lab.

One day, his secretary, Ginger, came in to ask him for assistance. Her 
mother had ALS and could no longer communicate. Ginger wanted to know if 
Woltosz could find a way to help her speak again.

Woltosz said it wasn’t his area of expertise. Ginger persisted, and 
Woltosz finally gave in, bought some supplies at Radio Shack and went 
with Ginger to meet her mother. Ginger’s mother died before she could 
benefit from what Woltosz developed, but the process birthed both a 
marriage and a company.

In 1981, Ginger and Walt were married and together formed Words+ Inc. 
Four years after forming the company, a physicist reached out to Woltosz 
asking for assistance in finding a way to help an English physics 
professor speak again.

“Are you talking about Stephen Hawking?” Woltosz asked. “Let me know if 
it’s Stephen Hawking. I’ll donate whatever he needs.”

A few days later, the physicist confirmed it was for Hawking who was in 
an intensive care unit at the time. Woltosz sent something over, but 
British Customs held the package for three weeks, wondering why someone 
would send such expensive material for free.

By the time they released it, Hawking was out of ICU, so Woltosz sent 
over something more advanced. Hawking used it until the day he died, 
even after Woltosz developed bigger and better systems.

“It became a stand ard joke betwe en us,” Woltosz sa id.

After working with Words+ Inc. for many years, Woltosz decid ed to see 
if he could use his computer simulation and modeling skills in health 
care. He and Ginger started Simulations Plus in 1996. The company 
discovered a way to better help drugs absorb i nto the gastroi ntesti 
nal tract. It went public, growing enough to allow the Woltoszs to make 
generous donations to the causes they choose — animal shelters, disaster 
relief and medical research — and to pursue other passions.

Because of his work with Hawking and other patients with ALS, Woltosz 
has a ssisted wit h documenta ries and mov ies t hat dea l wit h the 
subject. Recently, Woltosz decided to pur sue his interes t in fil mm 
aking by starting a production company, Iron Compass Entertainment, with 
his son, Daniel. The father and son created a film called “Do Not 
Reply,” which won awards at the Orlando Film Festival in October.

Woltosz said he’s nowhere near thinking about retirement — aside from 
the fact that he plays golf a little more often now.FOREVER PART OF THE 
AUBURN FABRIC

Woltosz was once one of the Auburn students packed into the stands 
cheering on Connie Frederick as he ran a fake punt 84 yards for a 
touchdown in the 1969 Iron Bowl. He was working hard on his aerospace 
engin eering degree, in no way anticipating all the turns his life would 
take. When one of his professors told him he probably would n’t stay in 
aerospace engineering, he was taken aback.

“What are you talking about?” Woltosz said at the time. “I just spent 
all this time and energy getting the two degrees... Of course, I’m going 
to be an aerospace engineer for the rest of my life.”

“He just smiled,” Woltosz continued. “He was a very wise man.”

Woltosz’s career has crossed through four different fields, and he’s 
found so much success in all of them that Auburn made him one of the 
graduation keynote speakers for its fall 2018 commencement ceremony.

For 37 years, Woltosz was “stuck” out in California and could only 
return for a football game every so often. As his company found more 
success and he was able to delegate more responsibilities, he and Ginger 
were able to come to more games. Eventually, they decided to buy a game 
weekend house. Before buying, they did their researchand found out the 
house originally belonged to Frederick Biggin, the school’s first dean 
of a rchitecture.

“They knew rig ht then that when they died, they would give it to Auburn 
University and the school of architecture,” said Vini Nathan, the 
current dean.

They found themselves coming to Auburn more and more, so they decided to 
make Aub urn their permane nt residence. Whe n they found out they 
couldn’t put a garage on the house, they decided to just donate the 
house and find a new one.

The house was named the Biggin-Woltosz House on Sept. 5, 2019. After the 
donation, Woltosz rem ained involved with the college of architecture, 
engaging in projects and providing feedback despite being a college of 
eng ineering graduate.

“Walt and Ginger are these kind of extremely enlightened alumni,” Nathan 
said. “It’s one thing to be generous, as they absolutely are. They are 
absolutely enlightened. What that means is they are able to have the 
long-term and broad view because t hey give where they can give the most 
impact.”

Now, there are more facilities around campus that bear the Woltosz name 
or were built wit h their support. They have become firmly entrenched in 
the community. They love the Gogue Performing Arts Center, and now it 
has a Woltosz Theater. The engineering research lab is named after them.

They’re huge supporters of different athletics programs, too. As soon as 
Walt Woltosz heard Bruce Pearl was hired, he bought four season tickets. 
They’re proud of the nationa lly accla imed equestria n tea m and 
supported a new barn that was built. Together with the other lead donor, 
Suzanne Mott Dansby, they decided to name the building after the coach 
instead of themselves.

“They don’t just give to something to put their name on it,” Greene said.

The Woltoszs even sup po rt the Canin e Performance Sciences. Ginger is 
passionate about animals, and she and Walt like to take time to feed and 
pet the puppies.

So far, Woltosz has lured one grandchild to Auburn. She’s a sophomore 
and recently attended her first football game with her grandparents, and 
her younger sister was r ecen tly accepted to Auburn. His 13-yearold gra 
nddaug hter is an equestria n and also wants to go to Auburn. Woltosz’s 
hope is to get all seven of his grandchildren to attend so that they 
draw their parents to the Auburn area, too.STEP ONTO AUBURN’S FRONT PORCH

After the Woltoszs donated $10 million toward a new football facility, 
Woltosz said there were people who complained, asking why he’d donate so 
much to a program that already receives so much funding.

Football has always been Woltosz’s favorite sport, but he’s recently 
become a bigger sup porter of many other Auburn athletics programs. 
However, the football program provides something the others don’t — the 
chance to represent Auburn on the biggest stage.

Auburn currently has 45 players on National Football League ros ters. 
Jus t one former Tiger is in the National Basketball Association, and fo 
ur are in Major Leagu e Baseball, not inc lu ding minor leagu es. When 
players like Cam Newton or Montravious Adams or Jamel Dean go on to the 
next level and find success, it brings attention to Auburn.

“(The Woltoszs) are not just thr owing money to the wind and seeing 
where it’s going to lan d,” Nathan said. “They’re very carefully calib 
rated and selecti ve abo ut where they put their resources.”

Woltosz fee ls like people outside the Southeast may not realize what a 
quality academic institution Auburn is, but they’ve maybe heard of it 
because of its spo rts teams. However, to keep up the athletic succes s, 
Aubu rn needs to draw goo d recru its, which is hard to do when its 
facilities are outdated.

Woltosz said he didn’t realize tha t Auburn’s football facilities are 
decades behind the other SEC schools until he heard Malzahn speak. In 
order to get the next Derrick Brown, Auburn needs to update, and it 
wanted to raise $30 million to get started. The Woltoszs decided to give 
the campaign a little jump start. Their donation, as well as a $2 
million donation from Malzahn and his wife, were among several that put 
Auburn ina position where it could move to the design phase for the new 
football facility.

The acade mic part of the institution doesn’t begrudge the football 
program the money at all.

“They’re the front porch of the university,” Nathan said. “I think at 
some point, we all step back and say it’s not about me, it’s not about 
my college. It’s about Auburn, and if there’s strength in one area, we 
are delighted when our athletic programs do well.”

Woltosz has a long-term vision. “There’s a trickle-down effect over the 
years because a good, well-performing school in sports attracts the 
academic interest in the school as well,” Woltosz said. “And that 
eventually leads to the alumni later on who will become successful and 
provide the updated kind of support that we’re providing now.”

Walt and Ginger Woltosz were guest captains when Auburn played 
Georgia.Todd Van Emst, AU Athletics

“(T he Wolto szs) are not just throwing money to the wind and seeing 
where it’s going to land.

T hey’re very careful ly calibrated and selective about where they put 
their resources.”

Vini Nathan, Auburn University dean

------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.hdaa.info/pipermail/list/attachments/20200101/3233da86/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: WW_ajax-request.php.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 77038 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.hdaa.info/pipermail/list/attachments/20200101/3233da86/attachment-0001.jpg>