Published June 09, 2020

Donor Spotlight: Jim Galbreath ’78

Paying forward his professional and financial success.
  • James Galbreath ’78

Jim spent virtually his entire career at UOP, a petroleum technology company now owned by Honeywell that uses breakthrough chemistry and engineering to power global growth. A chemistry major at Monmouth, Jim worked in the company’s online lab for 10 years before taking on a project engineer role. “I’d travel to refineries and help them build replacement systems or put in the control systems for new units,” he said. Jim retired in 2015.

HIS GIFT: “I started thinking about giving when I was going to retire,” says Jim, who had both a 401(k) and a conventional pension. He decided to make the College a beneficiary of his 401(k). “Even without a will, it was a very easy thing to do,” he said. “You don’t even need a lawyer. It was very painless.”

WHY HE GIVES: “Without my history at Monmouth, I never would’ve had the job I had or the financial resources I have now,” he says. “The school made it possible, so I’m paying it forward.”

WHAT MONMOUTH MEANS: Jim studied chemistry at a pivotal time, just as the department was transitioning to long-time faculty members Richard “Doc” Kieft and Pete Gebauer. In fact, he says he was on campus during the summer that both men came to interview. He met them both. “I think the College made two very good choices,” Jim says. Jim recently visited Monmouth and came away impressed with the positive and supporting environment, including the frame Monmouth College Pledge that hangs in Hewes Library. The pledge reads, in part: “We will treat with respect and civility our fellow students and the faculty and staff who have committed themselves to our learning and development.”

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