John papajohn and biography

Speaking about his close friend John Pappajohn, the late David Miller said, “He has an ambition to be the biggest philanthropist this state has ever seen.

His desire is to make money and give it away.”

Thirty years after the then-West Bank president shared his observation with the Des Moines Register, the evidence of Pappajohn's success in achieving that ambition is spread across Iowa.

Pappajohn, who died Saturday at his vacation home in Naples, Florida, devoted some $35 million to establishing entrepreneurial centers not just at the University of Iowa, his alma mater, but at Iowa State University, the University of Northern Iowa, Drake University and North Iowa Area Community College.

He also was a major donor to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics and with his wife, Mary, who died last year, established the John and Mary Pappajohn Higher Education Center in Des Moines.

The Pappajohns were long