Greehey grew up “relatively poor in a working-class neighborhood,” he recently told The Messenger. Iowa Central Community College didn’t even exist when he graduated from Fort Dodge Senior High in 1954.

So lacking any nearby or affordable opportunities to further his education, the FDSH grad opted to enlist in the United States Air Force for a four-year enlistment at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. Once his contract with Uncle Sam was up, Greehey decided to stay in South Central Texas and use his G.I. Bill benefits to attend college there, first at a community college and then at St. Mary’s, where he graduated with an accounting degree in 1960.

Greehey continued on to have a successful decades-long career in the oil industry in Texas, but he never forgot where he came from.

In 2018, Greehey donated $3 million through his Greehey Family Foundation to help fund the construction of a new student center on Iowa Central’s campus. The donation covered a large portion of the $8.5 million project, which was also funded by general obligation bonds approved by voters.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Fort Dodge native and philanthropist Bill Greehey, right, talks with Craig Juilfs, an advising and success coach at Iowa Central, during a tour of the new Greehey Family Student Success Center on the college's campus on Monday afternoon.

In the fall of 2020, to very little fanfare due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Greehey Family Student Success Center opened its doors to Iowa Central students.

The new building brought many offices and departments that students need most under one roof — veterans services, enrollment services, student advising, financial aid, registrar, counseling, housing, career services, distance learning, early intervention support and the campus mail room.

The one-stop-shop approach to the center was inspired by the Haven for Hope, a 23-acre campus that provides full services for San Antonio’s homeless population that Greehey created.

On Monday afternoon, while in town to visit his sister, Keeka Lynch, for her 92nd birthday, Greehey was finally able to tour the building that bears his family’s name. He was joined by Lynch; his wife, Louree Greehey; and other family members.

“It was a great investment,” Greehey said of the building. “It’s a beautiful facility.”

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Fort Dodge native Bill Greehey, whose family foundation donated $3 million to the Greehey Family Student Success Center project at Iowa Central, looks out over the campus from the view in the college president's office on Monday during a tour.

But more importantly, the center helps provide and support a great education to the students on campus, he added.

During his tour of the building, Greehey stopped in the academic advising office to meet with a couple students who are benefiting from the scholarship fund Greehey has set up to help first-generation students from underprivileged backgrounds.

“A lot of these first-generation students have a really difficult time because they come from poorer backgrounds and don’t have the basics to really go to college,” Greehey said.

“I’m a really strong believer in helping those that really need a helping hand,” he said.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Mary Ludwig, Iowa Central development and alumni relations executive director, leads Bill Greehey and his sister, Keeka Lynch, through a tour of the new Greehey Family Student Success Center on Iowa Central's campus on Monday.

-Messenger photo by Kelby Wingert
Louree and Bill Greehey chat with Iowa Central staff in a conference room in the new Greehey Family Student Success Center on Monday afternoon. Iowa Central Vice President of External Affairs and Government Relations Jim Kersten stands in the back.