WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — Many in the community are remembering the life of Jim McCoy after his passing Friday morning, October 15.
McCoy leaves behind a legacy spanning more than 30 years in the Wichita Falls community and on the campus of MSU.
Leslie Schaffner, President of the Wichita Falls Area Community Foundation says for anyone who had the chance to know the late Jim McCoy, it was truly an honor.
“Jim McCoy was a remarkable man. He had such a heart for the community,” Shaffner said.
A community that he touched every part of.
From his scholarship with the Wichita Falls community foundation to being the biggest donor to the Wichita Falls Crime Stoppers program, Officer Brian Bohn of Crime Stoppers says McCoy’s touch was always felt.
“Jim just was a huge supporter of the program, he liked the fact that we got crime solved especially when we had something happen that we didn’t have any leads on and the investigators needed crime stoppers help, and if something happened he would call and say hey what do you guys need,” Bohn said.
And Schaffner says Mccoy was the same way when it came to education.
“He was a brilliant businessman and he took that gift of business leadership that he had and he turned it into something extraordinary for our community,” Schaffner said.
One of those gifts was his very own scholarship that he had with the Wichita Falls Area Community Foundation, a scholarship that allowed more than 80 students to pursue higher education and learn from MSU professors like Dr. Marcy Brown Marsten, Dean of McCoy College of Science, Mathematics, and Engineering.
“He very much loved science and engineering and that was why he supported this college and this program and this university so much,” Marsten said.
That generosity led the MSU Texas Board of Regents in 2018 to approve the naming of the McCoy College of Science, Mathematics, and Engineering after McCoy.
“He’s certainly left a tremendous legacy for us I think there are so many students who would not be able to join engineering or persist in engineering had it not been for what he did to help build our program,” Marsten said.
An admirable man, with a heart for others.
“It truly meant that his focus was on the individuals, the focus was on improving the lives of the students that he was working with I don’t think he ever looked at it as about him it was about them and I think that’s pretty remarkable,” Schaffner said.
“There will be a ginormous hole left in this community with his passing I had a great friendship with him he will be dearly missed,” Bohn said.
Funeral arrangements are set for this Wednesday, October 20, at 12 p.m. at Our Lady Queen of Peace.