Thomas Petters Pledges $3 Million to the College of Saint Benedict

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February 5, 2003

ST. JOSEPH, Minn.- Thomas Petters, Chairman and CEO of Petters Group, which includes The Petters Companies, Inc./Redtag, Inc. and Boombuy, Inc., recently announced a $3 million gift to the College of Saint Benedict for the renovation of the Benedicta Arts Center (BAC). The 1,078 seat auditorium will be named the Petters Auditorium, in honor of Petters' parents, Rosemary Boyle Petters and Frederick E. Petters.

"This gift will be a wonderful honor for my parents and their life-long passion for the arts," said Petters, a St. Cloud native. "It also will serve as a tribute to the long-time significant relationship my entire family has had with the College of Saint Benedict." Petters' mother is a graduate of CSB, his father a graduate of Saint John's University, while several aunts, a sister and a cousin also are CSB alumnae. "The College of Saint Benedict has been near to my heart since I was a child," Petters added. "And, the Benedicta Arts Center is world class."

Petters has been actively involved in the St. Cloud business community, as the former owner of Petters Warehouse and more recently with his purchase of the Fingerhut assets with partner Ted Deikel. He is also a member of the CSB board of trustees.

The BAC, built in 1964, has long been considered one of the finest performance venues in the upper Midwest. The auditorium is a state-of-the-art concert hall and the only venue outside the Twin Cities offering an annual Minnesota Orchestra series. In addition to the auditorium, the building houses the Forum Theater, two gallery spaces and offices and classrooms for theater, visual arts, music and dance. Thousands of school children and teachers from the region have benefited from arts education programming at the BAC. The Fine Arts Program brings a variety of culturally diverse performances to Central Minnesota audiences, providing students and the wider community opportunities for interaction with regional, national and international artists through lectures, master classes, extended residencies and performances. CSB supports the creation of new artworks by commissioning a new dance piece each season; such new works receive their Midwestern premiere at the BAC.

"For generations, the College of Saint Benedict has served the public good of this region in myriad ways. Among the greatest of these has been through the performing arts and arts education at the Benedicta Arts Center," said CSB president Mary Lyons. "The leadership gift of Tom Petters affirms and expands this mission for succeeding generations."

Plans for renovation of the BAC include the addition of a black box theater, rehearsal spaces and office space, as well as climate control and accessibility modernizations.

The College of Saint Benedict is a private, nationally recognized women's, residential, Baccalaureate Liberal Arts, Catholic Benedictine college of 2,000 students, located in St. Joseph, Minn., joined in a coordinate mission with Saint John's University for men. Among liberal arts colleges nationally, Saint Benedict's is unique in its commitment to gender-specific education within a coeducational environment.