Gary L. Eckenroth
Shippensburg State College provided the Eckenroth family with the opportunity to begin a wonderful 50-year partnership in life until Eleanor's untimely death from pancreatic cancer in 2011.
Gary played basketball at Ship from 1959-1963 where he learned teamwork, goal setting, and a work ethic under Coach Keith Hess. He met Eleanor Spicer in 1960 at a dance in Heiges Gym and married her in 1962.
After graduation, Gary taught school and coached in the Lower Dauphin School District in Hummelstown, PA. In 1969, he began a career in Human Resources at Hershey Foods. In 1971, he was recruited to join The Quaker Oats Company and spent the next 15 years in Iowa and Chicago as his career progressed. In 1986, Gary was recruited to join RJR Nabisco as Vice President, Human Resources in their Planters/Life Savers operating company in New Jersey. He moved to North Carolina in 1987 when the company was relocated to Winston Salem. Gary retired in 2000 and joined Wake Forest University as University Compliance Officer until the golf course and traveling seemed to be the right thing to do.
Gary received The Lifetime Achievement Alumnus Award from Shippensburg in 2006 and in 2013, he established the Gary & Eleanor Eckenroth Scholarship.
Scholarships associated with Gary L. Eckenroth