$10 million from John and Becky Duffey helps reimagine stadium, the place where their family story keeps unfolding
Long before John Duffey learned to steer billion-dollar companies, and long before Becky Duffey spent her days in a hospital laboratory, they were two students in East Lansing who found each other at Michigan State University.
He was studying accounting at what is now the Eli Broad College of Business. She was studying medical technology through the College of Human Medicine and the Honors College.
They graduated together in 1982, and more than four decades later the Spartan story they began on that campus has become one of the most generous partnerships in the university’s modern history.
This week the couple made a $10 million commitment to Michigan State, directed to the football program and to improvements at Spartan Stadium.
The gift is part of FOR SPARTA, MSU Athletics’ $1 billion capital initiative, the largest in the department’s history.
It also carried something larger across a threshold: the Duffeys’ commitment helped push Uncommon Will, Far Better World, the university’s $4 billion campaign, past the $2 billion mark, roughly halfway to the most ambitious fundraising goal Michigan State has ever set.
For the Duffeys, the stadium is less a building than a family album.
“Our alma mater is special to us, and we are honored to support at a level that will have lasting impact,” the couple said.
“Spartan Stadium isn’t just a place we spend Saturdays; it has provided the backdrop for so many of our family memories. To know we can play a role in its renovation and, at the same time, strengthen MSU Athletics, is important to us both.”
Those Saturdays are not a figure of speech.
All three of the Duffeys’ children are Spartans, and John and Becky have long attended nearly every home football game.
The stadium, which they have filled with memories, opened in 1923 and seats 75,005 today. Its next chapter is a reimagined venue anchored by a new East Tower, replacing the stadium’s aging east side with premium seating, improved accessibility and fan amenities, and spaces designed for year-round use rather than only fall weekends.
The project is estimated at roughly $500 million, and its final shape and timetable still await approval from the university’s board of trustees, but the momentum behind it is unmistakable.
The Duffeys’ gift is the third $10 million commitment to football and Spartan Stadium in about five weeks. Joe and Julie Serra, the family behind Fenton-based Serra Automotive, opened the run with the largest gift in their decades of support for the university.
Aaron Zeigler, a 1995 Broad College graduate and president of Kalamazoo-based Zeigler Automotive Group, followed with his own $10 million pledge.
Together, the three gifts add $30 million to FOR SPARTA, building on Greg and Dawn Williams’ historic commitment last December, a $401 million pledge that is the largest single gift in Michigan State history and directs about $290 million to athletics.
The couple framed their latest commitment as a vote of confidence in the people now leading the university.
“This commitment shows our belief that we have the right leaders in President Guskiewicz, our new AD, Dan, and Coach Fitz,” they said, referring to President Kevin M. Guskiewicz, Vice President and Director of Athletics Dan Bartholomae, and head football coach Pat Fitzgerald.
That belief comes at a time when Bartholomae has been candid that Big Ten football must be resourced to compete immediately, both to build rosters and to renew the places where those teams play.
Guskiewicz spoke of the Duffeys in personal terms.
“John and Becky care deeply about Michigan State and about the people who make this place special,” he said.
“Their Spartan story began here more than four decades ago, and they’ve spent the years since giving back to a university that means so much to their family. Their generosity comes from the heart, and you can see that in the opportunities they’ve created for our students, faculty and student-athletes. I’m grateful for their friendship and their unwavering belief in Michigan State University.”
Bartholomae called the couple “the best of what it means to be Spartans,” adding that their philanthropy “showcases their belief in the direction we are headed as a department, while also inspiring others to dream about the possibilities of our shared vision.”
Kim Tobin, vice president for university advancement, noted that the gift’s significance extends well beyond its size.
“Their generosity tells a much bigger story than any single gift,” she said.
“They’ve invested in the people, programs and places that make MSU exceptional, and they’ve given their time and leadership to help bring others along.”
That bigger story stretches back years.
The Duffeys’ name already rests on the John and Becky Duffey Football Practice Field, made possible by an earlier $1.5 million gift to upgrade the program’s practice facilities.
When Michigan State set out to transform the Breslin Center, the couple pledged another $1.5 million to help build a basketball hall of history and other improvements, and today the John and Becky Duffey Recruiting Lounge welcomes prospective student-athletes there.
At the same time, they pledged $1 million to create a named professorship in the School of Hospitality Business, explaining that attracting and retaining the best educators is key to developing the next generation of business leaders.
They also endowed the John and Becky Duffey Undergraduate Academic Services Suite in the Broad College, a space devoted to guiding students through the same kind of education that launched John’s career.
That career is a study in disciplined ambition.
After Michigan State, John earned his CPA and joined Price Waterhouse, working in its Chicago and Detroit offices and its national office in Washington.
He went on to serve as chief financial officer of Dade Behring, leading the diagnostics company through a debt restructuring and into the public markets, then became chief integration officer at Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics after Siemens acquired the business.
He joined Six Flags Entertainment as chief financial officer in 2010, helping guide the company’s recovery and growth, and later rose to president and CEO of what was then the world’s largest regional theme park operator, a company of more than 40,000 employees.
Today, he is a managing partner at Lionfish Capital, a private equity firm whose holdings include award-winning restaurants and a golf course in Northern Michigan, close to the couple’s home in Pellston.
Becky built her own career as a medical technologist at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, putting her Michigan State training to work in the laboratory.
Michigan State has repeatedly turned to the couple not only for support but also for leadership.
They served on the campaign board for the Broad College and on the Athletic Director’s Campaign Leadership Council, and today they sit on the President’s Campaign Cabinet for Uncommon Will, Far Better World, the volunteer group helping to steer the university’s $4 billion effort.
The Broad College named them its Alumni of the Year; John received an Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award and returned to campus as a keynote speaker at commencement, offering new graduates the perspective of someone who once sat where they sat.
Their generosity reaches well beyond East Lansing, and some of it is rooted close to home.
John has a sister with developmental disabilities, a bond that led him to join the board of Little City, the Chicago-area organization serving children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, where he is now an emeritus trustee.
Through their family foundation, John and Becky have championed people with developmental disabilities, including children with autism, and have supported education for disadvantaged children. John has also served as vice chair of the national board of NPH USA, which supports homes and care for vulnerable children across Latin America and the Caribbean.
Raised in an Irish Catholic family with five siblings and 31 cousins, he once said that family taught him values he would use and cherish throughout his life, a sentiment that echoes through the couple’s giving.
Together, the gifts reflect a consistent philosophy.
The Duffeys invest in the institutions that formed them and in the people those institutions now serve, whether a young accounting student finds her footing in the Broad College, a recruit tours the Breslin Center, or a family walks into Spartan Stadium for a first game. As Michigan State prepares to rebuild one of college football’s historic venues, the couple who met on its campus, raised three Spartans, and spent decades of autumn Saturdays in its stands are helping to ensure that the stadium remains what it has always been for them, a gathering place where generations of Spartan families make memories of their own.