The Ault family recently wrote a $500,000 check to the Jefferson College Foundation, part of a larger donation patriarch David Ault had promised in 2012 when he gave a Eureka property to the college.
He died last year, and his wife, Rita Ault, died in 2010.
College spokesman Roger Barrentine said the donated Eureka property, along with the recent $500,000 check, were worth more than $1 million.
Jefferson College President Dena McCaffrey said that’s the largest donation anyone has given the college.
Barrentine said the $500,000 check was the largest donation the foundation had received since its formation in 1991.
Blake Tilley, the foundation’s executive director, said the large check to the college came from the Ault estate’s trustees, David and Rita Ault’s son, Gary Ault, and their daughter-in-law, Cathy McCredie.
McCaffrey said she greatly appreciates the gifts from the Ault family.
“We are so pleased Mr. David Ault believed in the work we do and the mission of Jefferson College,” McCaffrey said. “We also appreciate his son, Gary, and daughter-in-law, Cathy.
“This gift, likely the largest one-time gift in the history of the college, will be placed in our unrestricted endowment so that it can grow and allow us to continue to offer quality programs and facilities to our community for years to come.”
Gary Ault said his parents greatly valued Jefferson College and the Open Door Animal Sanctuary in House Springs.
“Both my dad, David, and mom, Rita, donated to Jefferson County causes,” Gary Ault said. “Jefferson College and Open Door Animal Sanctuary were the big ones. Literally for decades they were involved in some way or another with both.”
He said his father’s donations to the college started more than 40 years ago.
“Probably in 1980, I remember my dad donating metal working machinery to the college,” Gary Ault said. ”He was very supportive of vocational programs.”
The property donated in 2012 included a fully furnished 4,400-square-foot home at the Fox Run Golf Club in Eureka. At the time, David Ault was president of the golf club, Fox Run Builders and Eureka Springs Inc.
Daryl Gehbauer, the college’s vice president of finances and administration, said the foundation still owns the house, but has put it up for sale.
Over the years, the foundation has held a number of fundraising events at the house, he said.
David Ault was the former owner of Marlo Coil, a heating and cooling equipment manufacturer in High Ridge. He sold the company in 1998.
The college’s foundation is a nonprofit organization that provides scholarships and financial support for students and sponsors events on campus.