Ron Gebhardtsbauer and Greg Wright hope that their $1 million estate commitment to establish the Ron Gebhardtsbauer and Greg Wright Scholarship will encourage diversity in the actuarial science profession. Credit: Photo provided. All Rights Reserved.
October 25, 2024
By Anne Louise Cropp
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Ron Gebhardtsbauer, a Penn State graduate and professor emeritus of actuarial science, said that he fell in love with Penn State the moment he stepped onto campus as a high school student. So much so, he applied only to Penn State and said he was relieved to receive an offer of admission.
That love affair would continue as a student and alumnus and through his “second career” as head of the Penn State Smeal College of Business’s actuarial science program. It would also lead him and his partner of 30 years — husband Greg Wright — to make a $1 million estate commitment to create the Ron Gebhardtsbauer and Greg Wright Scholarship with the hope of encouraging diversity in the actuarial science profession.
“I loved teaching, but I was always troubled to learn just how many of my students were graduating with significant debt,” Gebhardtsbauer said.
He and Wright want to encourage students to pursue actuarial science — a profession that uses mathematics, statistics, and financial theory to assess risk and uncertainty, primarily in insurance, pensions, and other financial industries — without that burden.
Gebhardtsbauer said, “Whether they are choosing Smeal’s actuarial science program, with its focus on integrating actuarial studies with business disciplines, or the Eberly College of Science’s actuarial program, which takes a more mathematical and statistical approach, Greg and I wanted to help Penn State attract the type of high-achieving student for whom a scholarship offer can be the deciding factor between attending Penn State or another institution. If that student can contribute to the diversity of the profession, it’s even better.”
Although their gift is part of their estate plan, Gebhardtsbauer and Wright have chosen to “early activate” the scholarship, pledging an additional $50,000 over the next five years, to award the scholarship now.
“It’s important to Ron and me that we get to meet some of the students who will benefit from our gift while we are still living,” Wright said. “Early activation will allow us to do that.”
Corey C. Phelps, John and Karen Arnold Dean of Smeal, acknowledged that, with Smeal’s status as a Center of Actuarial Excellence, there’s strong demand for a Penn State degree in actuarial sciences.
“Ron was widely respected as a member of Smeal’s faculty and as head of our actuarial science program, and his commitment to students studying actuarial science was extraordinary. I have great admiration for his efforts to advance Penn State as a leading source of actuarial talent and to encourage diversity in the profession,” he said.
“That commitment is evident through Ron and Greg’s plan to establish a scholarship through their estate. Their gift will help ensure that an actuarial science degree is attainable for students from all socioeconomic groups, which is incredibly important to our land-grant mission here at Penn State. I am deeply grateful for their support.”
“I loved teaching, but I was always troubled to learn just how many of my students were graduating with significant debt.”
Ron Gebhardtsbauer, Professor emeritus of actuarial science
Gebhardtsbauer graduated from Penn State with a degree in mathematics in 1974.
As a student, Gebhardtsbauer discovered a new-at-the-time program, actuarial science, and he was even a teaching assistant for Arnold Shapiro, Smeal’s first program head in actuarial science.
His actuarial career included roles as the lead actuary for the Federal Employee Retirement System, chief actuary of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, head of Mercer’s NYC Retirement Practice, spokesperson for the U.S. actuarial profession (at the American Academy of Actuaries) and moderator of the White House Conference on Social Security. He served on the national pension boards of the United Methodist and Brethren Churches and the international boards of the actuarial profession. He also spent time as the senior benefits advisor to the chairman of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee.
Gebhardtsbauer stayed in contact with Shapiro following graduation, and the two became lifelong friends. When Shapiro announced his retirement in 2008, he recommended Gebhardtsbauer for the role — a role Gebhardtsbauer happily accepted.
“Teaching gave me a chance to meet young people and understand their dreams and needs. It was an incredibly rewarding second career,” he said.
Among his many professional accolades, Gebhardtsbauer said he was especially proud to have been recognized as Smeal Teacher of the Year in 2017 and to be named to Poets and Quants list of Top 40 Undergraduate Professors that same year.
Gebhardtsbauer met Wright at a social event in 1994. He said the two hit it off immediately, but Wright left the event before they could exchange telephone numbers. By chance, the two bumped into each other in Washington, D.C., the following month and have been inseparable since.
Wright said he grew up in a small farm town south of Buffalo, but was always looking to “get out.”
He enrolled in college on a full scholarship and completed his first year at New York University before purchasing a backpack and hitchhiking his way across the country. He landed in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and spent a decade working at the National Outdoor Leadership School.
Although Wright loved the outdoors, he said he realized if he continued this work, “he would never have any money.” This led him to accept a position with Bank of America in its San Francisco office. He would eventually move to Washington, D.C., where he would earn a business degree while working at U.S. Air.
He later worked for Fannie Mae. When Fannie Mae began having financial difficulties in the early 2000s, he used his severance agreement to return to school, earning a master’s degree in acupuncture and oriental medicine.
After Gebhardtsbauer was offered a faculty position at Penn State, Wright opened a small, private practice in State College.
Gebhardtsbauer stepped back from his administrative role at Smeal in 2018 and started to phase out his classroom responsibilities, teaching during the fall semester, and “skiing all winter.” Now both fully retired, they split their time between homes in Colorado and Delaware but still feel a strong connection to Penn State.
“Penn State alumni have such great memories of their time at Penn State. I certainly do, too,” Gebhardtsbauer said. “As an administrator, I spent a lot of time talking with our alumni, telling them what we needed to be even better as a program, and it was wonderful to help connect them with a purpose they could feel good about. Now it’s our turn.”
For Wright, it’s an opportunity to leave something behind. To impact the future.
“Ron and I considered what things were most important to us. Education changed our lives, and we wanted to give that same opportunity to others. Seeing how much Ron loved Penn State and how much he cared for his students, it was an easy decision to create this scholarship,” he said.
In addition to their estate commitment to Penn State, the couple has also made plans to support the Sierra Club, honoring Wright’s passion for the outdoors, and the American Civil Liberties Union, which has long championed marriage equality and other rights for same-sex couples.
Gebhardtsbauer and Wright’s gift advances the University’s historic land-grant mission to serve and lead. Through philanthropy, alumni and friends are helping students to join the Penn State family and prepare for lifelong success; driving research, outreach and economic development; and increasing the University’s impact for students, families, patients and communities across the commonwealth and around the world. Learn more by visiting raise.psu.edu.
Andy Elder
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