Portland State Magazine Spring 2013

Making a life by giving Tom and his wife, Marilyn, give to student scholarships at PSU. You can too. For more information, please contact Ellecia Williams at 503-725-2649 or ellecia.williams@pdx.edu . TOM FINK ’71 paid his way through Portland State by working in a Tillamook plywood mill. His story would be difficult to duplicate today. “When I was in school, 80 percent of my tuition and every other in-state student was paid by the state of Oregon,” says Tom. “These days, the state funds less than 20 percent, and students are responsible for the rest. The opportunities for college students to earn 80 percent of their tuition are few and far between.” Thanks to a strong PSU network, Tom began his career in financial services at Stan- dard Insurance Company. Later, he formed his own company and today is managing partner of Magnacorp Financial. “I graduated from PSU with no student debt and that gave me a tremendous head start. I feel a responsibility to give back and help students in the way the state helped me years ago. Nearly 50 percent of PSU students are, like me, the first in their family to attend college. For Oregon to remain economically viable, we must have an educated workforce and give these students the same opportunities we had. “I like to live my life by the words of Winston Churchill, ‘We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give,’” Tom says. Today, Tom gives to PSU scholarships and encourages others to do the same. He’s right on target, because scholarships are PSU’s top fund-raising priority.