July 13, 2001

A College Becomes the Family Business

By JAMILAH EVELYN

Southwestern Michigan's new president is the son of the board chairman

Fred L. Mathews came to town in 1952, fresh out of optometry school in Tennessee. He had just $40 -- borrowed from his sister -- but before long he was wealthy, having turned around a fledgling optometry business.

Ten years later, the good doctor launched a campaign to start Southwestern Michigan College. He walked door to door to persuade the mostly low-income residents of this small city that they should

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