Centralight

grandmarshal Meet your BY BARBARA SUTHERLAND CHOVANEC John G. Kulhavi, '65, attends homecoming every fall, and this year the "I always look forward to homecoming, and being named grand marshal is a great honor," Kulhavi says. Kulhavi, the namesake of CMU's Kulhavi Hall, is a former member and chairman of the CMU Board of Trustees, current chairman of the CMU Events Center Steering Committee and a member of the CMU Development Board. He visits campus about eight times a year for business meetings and sports events, and he drops in at Kulhavi Hall once a year just to see how things are going. Kulhavi also occasionally visits the ROTC program, where he funded the John G. Kulhavi ROTC Scholarship, and CMU's psychology researchers, for whom he funded the John G. Kulhavi Professorship in Neuroscience. decorated veteran, top-rated fi nancial advisor and devoted CMU supporter will lead Homecoming 2010 festivities as grand marshal. John Kulhavi (left) and Athletics Director Dave Heeke at an Events Center fundraising gala in May. This year he hopes to tour the Events Center construction site as often as possible. He and the rest of the CMU Development Board members got a sneak peak in June, and the building is due for completion in December. "I'm always anxious to see the progress," Kulhavi says. "It's going to be a great addition to the university." Kulhavi urges all alumni to return to CMU for homecoming to see the changes on campus and reconnect with their alma mater. "Most people will come to the conclusion that not just the education but also the social aspects of Central have been invaluable in our lives and our careers," he says. "Coming to homecoming is a way of reconnecting with old friends and reliving memories." As a student, Kulhavi, a psychology major, was active in Phi Sigma Epsilon fraternity – now Phi Sigma Kappa. John Kulhavi (left) participated in Military Appreciation Night activities during the Veteran's Day football game in 2009. He worked as many as fi ve diff erent jobs at a time to put himself through school – stockboy in the Merrill Hall dining commons, lab technician in a chemistry lab, butcher's helper at a grocery store and cashier at the Satellite restaurant, among others. As a member of ROTC, he enrolled in the fi rst class of students in CMU's fl ight program. He served as a helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War and received 43 awards, including the Legion of Merit, two Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, 22 Air Medals and three Meritorious Service Medals. He retired from the Army Reserve at the rank of brigadier general. Now Kulhavi is senior vice president for investments at Merrill Lynch in Farmington Hills, leading the Kulhavi Wealth Management Team. For the past six years, Barron's Magazine named him one of America's Top Financial Advisors. And Kulhavi works tirelessly to support and promote CMU. "My only goal regarding CMU is to do whatever I can to raise the esteem of the university that gave me so much," he says. • centralight fall '10 5 ALL PHOTOS BY ROBERT BARCLAY

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