IPFW removes donor’s name from pedestrian bridge

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) – Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne has removed a businessman’s name from a bridge after they say he hasn’t made good on a $3 million pledge.

The Journal Gazette reports Donald Willis made the pledge in 2003. Colleen Dixon, director of advancement services at IPFW, says Willis made his last payment in 2006 and that he was supposed to have finished paying next year.

The school and state grants picked up the $2.2 million cost of the pedestrian bridge. Willis’ donation was meant to offset other bridge costs, as well pay for scholarships and an endowed entrepreneurship chair. Scholarships of $1,000 were awarded a number of years.

Willis declined to comment to the newspaper. His wife, Doris, says the couple is doing fine but that “enough has been said.”