NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

7/3/2002

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES-The Northwestern State University Foundation has received a pledge to create the first endowed chair in NSU's College of Business.

The Charles E. Ragus and Family Endowed Chair in Business will be created with a donation of $400,000 from Peggy Ragus and her family, Debbie and Buddy Cook, Stacey and Lt. Col. Andy Cernicky and Jenni and Dalton McGaha. The gift will be matched with $600,000 from the Board of Regents Support Fund to set up a $1,000,000 endowed chair.

Charles E. Ragus was a 1965 graduate of Northwestern where he was a member of the football team. He was the founder of AdvoCare, a leading nutritional supplement company. Ragus died in 2001.

"Charlie and I were close friends, and I admired him tremendously, both when I knew him here as a student and during later years, when he became such an outstanding role model as CEO of AdvoCare," said NSU President Dr. Randall J. Webb. "He knew how to motivate people and extract from them the very best they have to offer. I firmly believe that his success in the business world stemmed largely from the fact that he was such a fine person and friend and that he expected a lot from himself as well.

"As successful as Charlie was, he didn't do it alone. He was blessed with a wonderful supportive wife in Peggy, and their relationship was enhanced because of their outstanding daughters."

Ragus previously made a $100,000 to the NSU Athletic Association.

"Charlie was a man with a huge heart and loved giving to others," said his widow Peggy Ragus. "He was excited when people were able to improve themselves and make a better life for themselves and their families. Charlie had expressed an interest in doing something else for Northwestern."

According to NSU Dean of Business Dr. Joel Worley, the gift will have a major impact on Northwestern's College of Business.

"Having the Charles E. Ragus and Family Endowed Chair in Business will bring national recognition to the College of Business," said Worley. "We will be seeking to hire a faculty member who has a significant amount of publications in major professional journals.

"The hiring of this faculty member will help us attract outstanding students who will want to study under a top scholar. It will also stimulate our faculty to raise their level of performance and seek out opportunities to collaborate on research."

After earning a business degree from Northwestern, Ragus played briefly for the Kansas City Chiefs. He had careers in insurance, retail and real estate before joining a direct sales supplement company in 1983. He started a similar company with a partnership and eventually sold his interest.

Ragus founded AdvoCare as a company that would sell leading-edge products that would help people be proactive about their health. He chose direct selling as the distribution vehicle because it is based on one-to-one relationships.

AdvoCare was named to the prestigious Dallas 100 for five years in a row. The list includes North Texas' fastest growing, privately held companies. Ragus was also a finalist in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for the Southwest Region for the past several years.

Ragus was also generous with his support. With the guidance of the Scientific and Medical Advisory Board, AdvoCare provided support for the American College of Nutrition. The Charles E. Ragus Award was established earlier this year to honor the best scientific manuscript published each year in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition. AdvoCare also supports research projects at several universities.

"Charlie was a man that always put God first in this life and gave him the credit for his success," said Peggy Ragus. "He continually kept working on himself and never quit educating himself. He wanted to make the world a better place and believed others needed to step forward to make the world a better place."

NSU has received a pledge to create an endowed chair in the College of Education. Maj. Gen. Erbon W. Wise and his wife Marie donated $400,000 to the NSU Foundation in April to create the Erbon W. and Marie Wise Endowed Chair in Journalism. The university also has 22 endowed professorships created by alumni, friends of the university and businesses.

"People like Charlie and Peggy Ragus have set a wonderful example of kindness and generosity for the rest of us to follow," said Webb. "Those of us who attended Northwestern are aware that our lives were changed for the better as a result of the experience. I hope Northwestern alumni and friends everywhere will find their own reasons to fall in love with their alma mater all over again and support its initiatives through financial gifts of their own."

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