Former Chrysler chairman Robert J. Eaton pledges $5 million for KU engineering building

Robert Eaton

Walter Chrysler was a Kansas boy, growing up in the small town of Ellis, before he went off to found the automaking giant.

Robert Eaton grew up in the small Kansas town of Arkansas City before he went to KU and then became CEO of Chrysler's company, now called DaimlerChrysler AG.

Now Eaton has pledged $5 million—-among the 10 largest single gifts received by the Kansas University Endowment Association—for a building that will expand the KU School of Engineering facilities. The gift is expected to be matched with $130,000 from ChevronTexaco Corp., International Paper Co. and DaimlerChrysler.

"Bob Eaton forged his Kansas roots and KU education into a highly successful career that carried him across the world in the automotive industry," said KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway. "His exceptional gift is the capstone on a multi-year fund-raising effort that has made the expansion of the KU School of Engineering possible."

When completed, the 80,000-square-foot Eaton Hall will consolidate all academic programs, including the department of electrical engineering and computer science, into the engineering complex. The $15 million project, which will be finished in time for the fall semester, includes a multimedia classroom, several state-of-the-art instructional and computer laboratories, an atrium, the Engineering Career Services Center and the school's administrative offices. It is located at the corner of Naismith Drive and 15th Street and will be dedicated in November.

Eaton, e'63, who studied mechanical engineering, said his Kansas upbringing and his experiences at the University helped shape his career.

"I have always viewed being from Kansas as positive, and the good, solid Kansas values I was raised with have served me well," he said. "My experiences at KU were critical for what I was preparing to do—academically, culturally and socially—especially having come from a small town. I believe that we ought to support the things that have an impact on our lives."

Eaton said his interest in engines began as a child when he took apart a Maytag washing machine and turned it into a go-cart. He tinkered with car and motorcycle engines, funding his hobby through jobs such as delivering the Arkansas City Traveler newspaper and working as a janitor and a farmhand.

"By the time I was out of high school, I had had 10 or 15 cars and motorcycles," Eaton said. "I knew I wanted to go into automotive engineering." Upon graduating from KU, Eaton joined General Motors Corp. in the Chevrolet Motor Division. He held several design and management positions, and in 1974 he was promoted to executive engineer. In 1988, he was named president of General Motors Europe.

Eaton left GM in 1992 to become vice chairman and chief operating officer of the Chrysler Corp. Nine months later he succeeded Lee C. Iacocca as chairman and CEO of the company. In 1998, after a period of record earnings for Chrysler Corp., Eaton helped design the $76 billion merger between the company and Daimler-Benz AG. After two years as chairman of DaimlerChrysler AG, he retired in 2000.

A board member of International Paper and ChevronTexaco, Eaton is a past chairman of the National Academy of Engineering and a trustee at KU Endowment. The Kansas Alumni Association awarded him the Distinguished Service Citation in 1994. The School of Engineering honored him with its Distinguished Engineering Service Award in 1995.

Eaton lives in Naples, Fla., with his wife, Connie, a native of Burlington. Connie attended KU and in 1966 received a bachelor's degree in education from Wayne State University in Detroit. The couple has two children, Scott and Matthew.