Even after their passing, Edgar “Dusty” Bredbenner ’50 and his wife, Barbara Northrop Bredbenner, are making a difference for Ithaca College student-athletes and sports fans, not to mention everyone who will benefit from the spectacular public spaces in the new athletics and events center. The College will soon break ground for the center, which is slated to open in 2010 or 2011, thanks to passionate donors like Dusty Bredbenner — who passed away in September 2005, four years after Barbara, but specified in his will that a significant donation would go toward building the center that had been in their (and many others’) dreams for decades.

A business school alumnus with a degree in management, Bredbenner played lacrosse at Ithaca and was one of the most involved alumni in College history. He was elected to the IC Alumni Association Board of Directors the year after he graduated, served as its treasurer from 1951 to 1965, and was president from 1966 to 1968. He was a founder and first president of the Sports Booster Club (now the Ithaca Fund for Athletics) and alumni representative to the Ithaca College Board of Trustees from 1970 to 1975.

Bredbenner was inducted into the Ithaca College Sports Hall of Fame in 1992, and he maintained his active involvement by serving on the Athletics and Events Center Volunteer Committee from 2002 until his death. For his lifelong friendship and support of the College he received the Distinguished Alumni Award in 1983, and for his outstanding service to the board of trustees he was presented with an honorary doctor of laws degree. Among his numerous community activities, Bredbenner chaired the City of Ithaca Youth Bureau and the Ithaca Youth Advisory Council and was treasurer of the Greater Ithaca Recreation Council. He was also active in the Elks Club and American Legion, as well as with the local, state, and national associations of accountants.

Dusty and Barbara Bredbenner will be recognized through the naming of a space in the new facility.