Who better to lead a new center for technology at Columbus State University than Jack and JoRhee Pezold? The impact on STEM education, technology innovation, and workforce development in Columbus, across Georgia and beyond will help reshape education and the workforce.
The Pezold family has served as business entrepreneurs and philanthropists who helped shape the economy of the Chattahoochee Valley. They moved to Columbus in 1980 and began building their business with six regional McDonald’s locations. At its peak, their umbrella company, Pezold Management, owned and operated 22 McDonald’s restaurants in the area. Jack has since sold the restaurants, but his remaining corporate investments include Valley Hospitality, which runs several local hotels and venues, and Denim North America.
The university will break ground early next year on the 36,000-square-foot building that will serve as the new home for CSU’s Coca-Cola Space Science Center and its expanding Robotics Engineering program. After the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents approved it last week, the building will be named the Jack and JoRhee Pezold Center for Emergent Technology in recognition of their landmark donations to the project.
The Pezolds invested $6 million in the project; $4 million of their gift will fund the building itself. Another $2 million will permanently endow a distinguished institute chair dynamic technologist and economic development leader to work from the building. The Pezolds chose to name the endowed chair after Dr. Jim and Nancy Buntin…