Ronan innovator leaves $4 million to college
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News from Montana State University
BOZEMAN – Montana State University announced last week that the late Bill Wurst, a 1959 alumnus in electrical engineering, left $4 million to the MSU College of Engineering as a gift from his estate. The gift will be used as matching funds for the university’s planned Norm Asbjornson Innovation Center.
A native of Ronan, Wurst received a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from MSU. He also earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering while working as a research and teaching assistant at MSU.
After graduate school, Wurst helped found a start-up manufacturing company, Montronics, and then was recruited to Hewlett Packard in 1963. His 30-year career with Hewlett Packard began as a development engineer; among other positions, he later became the general manager for the Network Measurements Division.
Colleagues described Wurst as a natural leader who developed a reputation as an innovator and strategic thinker.
During his lifetime, Wurst was committed to supporting future engineering students at Montana State. He established a scholarship with matching funds from Hewlett Packard to support students in electrical and computer engineering. Since 1994, dozens of scholarships have been awarded from the fund.
More recently, Wurst had also established two additional endowed scholarships designated for engineering students from Lake County and Flathead County.
