Two of Mississippi’s most successful business-partner brothers and generous supporters of the state’s public institutions of higher education, Tom and Jim Duff, will be honored at the University of Mississippi on Thursday, Nov. 7, at 6:30 p.m. with the 2024 Legacy Award from the Ole Miss Women’s Council for Philanthropy.
The award is presented yearly to recipients whose lives exemplify the values and tenets of the OMWC: philanthropy, scholarship, leadership and mentorship — principles long practiced by the Duffs.
The brothers founded and own Duff Capital Investors, a holding company comprised of 22 separate business units. With revenues of $5.5 billion, DCI is the largest privately owned business in Mississippi.
In 2020, the Duffs — residents of Hattiesburg, Mississippi — made a $26 million gift to Ole Miss to construct the Jim and Thomas Duff Center for Science and Technology Innovation.
“We believe higher education is one of the key factors, if not the key factor, that is vital to transforming our state and ensuring Mississippi has a successful future,” said Tom Duff, who previously served as the president of the state Institutions of Higher Learning board. “By becoming a better, more educated state, our state, in turn, will become more prosperous.”
“For us, providing financial resources to our state’s universities is a way to give students more opportunities for a better life,” said Jim Duff. “Essentially, by supporting our public higher education system, we want to try to help the students in our state help themselves and their communities. We want to help them get the exceptional education necessary to succeed.”
The Duffs’ philanthropic efforts will have a far-reaching impact, said Roane Grantham, OMWC chair.
“The Duff Center will ensure our students can have careers in medicine, chemical engineering, robotics and other growing fields anywhere in the world,” she said. “We are honored to be able to recognize and thank Tom and Jim Duff for their generous investment in our students, our university and our future.”
The Legacy Award ceremony, a ticketed event, will take place inside the new Duff Center, which opened in August. For the 12th year, the C Spire Foundation will serve as Presenting sponsor.
“It has been an honor to present the Ole Miss Women’s Council Legacy Award for over 12 years,” said Beth C. Pickering, president and executive director of the C Spire Foundation. “Congratulations to Jim and Thomas Duff on all their accomplishments and giving back to education in Mississippi. The Duff Center is truly a state-of-the-art, world-class facility for STEM education that will inspire students to think big and do great work.”
Yates Construction and mTrade are serving as Innovator sponsors, and Mississippi Power, the University of Mississippi Foundation, Cooper Communities and the University of Mississippi Medical Center are Fellow sponsors of the Legacy Award. Proceeds from the Legacy Award support programming opportunities for Women’s Council scholars.
The university will host a ribbon cutting for the Duff Center outside the building at 5-5:30 p.m.
This state-of-the-art, 204,000-square-foot science, technology, engineering and mathematics facility is the largest academic project in Ole Miss’ history and it’s poised to prepare countless students for STEM-related jobs, which are expected to increase dramatically through 2031.
The Duffs also made a $1 million gift to Ole Miss in 2017 to create the Ernest R. Duff Flagship Constellation Fund to honor their father, a 1955 UM law graduate.
Their additional gifts include support for the Jim and Thomas Duff Athletic Center at the University of Southern Mississippi and the Jim and Thomas Duff Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities and Department of Kinesiology at Mississippi State University.
Tom Duff earned a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Southern Mississippi; Jim Duff studied business at Utah Valley University.
“We are extremely honored to be recipients of the Legacy Award and we hope we measure up to the incredible mission of the Women’s Council,” said Jim Duff, whose wife, Sherry, earned a B.S. degree in dental hygiene from the University of Mississippi Medical Center, and their daughters, Maggie Duff West and Caroline Duff, earned degrees at Ole Miss.
“What the Women’s Council has done and is doing is remarkable,” Tom Duff said. “Not only do they offer one of the most generous academic scholarships available to Ole Miss students, but the members provide mentors and leadership training, introduce students to different cultures and provide resources for internships and study abroad opportunities. They do all that while encouraging the students to give back to their communities.”
Past Legacy Award honorees include Donna and Jim Barksdale, Jennifer Gillom and Peggie Gillom-Granderson, Ruth and Dr. Arthur C. Guyton, Dr. Gerald M. “Doc” Hollingsworth, Chancellor Emeritus Robert C. Khayat, Olivia Manning, Charles Overby, Ambassador John N. Palmer, Dolly Parton, Leigh Anne Tuohy, and Elise and Gov. William Winter.
For more information about the Legacy Award and the Ole Miss Women’s Council, contact Suzanne Helveston, program director, at shelveston@olemiss.edu or 662-915-2956.
By Jonathan Scott/UM Development