The Florida State University College of Business has received a major gift that celebrates and further cements the legacy of one of its most beloved family members, student supporters and university boosters. Mary W. Solomon last week committed $1 million to establish the E. Ray Solomon Family Floor in Legacy Hall, the future five-story home of the College of Business.

The Florida State University College of Business celebrated the groundbreaking of Legacy Hall on Friday, Oct. 14, its cutting-edge future home – a world-class facility designed to inspire learning for the next generation of business leaders. Legacy Hall is expected to become a hub of business education, collaboration and development for FSU, Tallahassee and the state, as well as elevate the college's reach nationally and globally.

When Andy Norman thinks about Florida State University – and he thinks about FSU a lot – he reflects on 1997 when he graduated with a degree in social science and a minor in business.

His work as an investment-industry executive and later as an adjunct professor took him to places all over the globe. And whether in San Francisco, London or Mumbai, Peter Jones would put on his Florida State University garb and feel the world get smaller. "Invariably, someone would walk past me and say, 'Go Noles!'" Jones said.

An impressive site to network and jump-start careers. A spacious location to study, collaborate and aim high. A state-of-the-art place that will propel the college forward. Business students say they think the construction of Legacy Hall will provide a long list of benefits with an overarching result: launching the college to new heights.

Danny Persaud calls it investing in tomorrow. "Especially when it comes to education, if there's some way I can benefit the next generation and I can do it, I'll do it," he says. Florida State University concurs -- because he did it.

Brett Lindquist recalled a high-energy experience as a student athlete at Florida State University, majoring in finance and real estate while competing for four years on the men’s swimming team. Four decades later, he could help make another splash at FSU.

College of Business alumnus and real estate entrepreneur Benjamin S. Macfarland III knows the value of a war room, and that’s why he has made his second significant gift to Florida State University – this one for $200,000.

You might liken gifts to name classrooms in Legacy Hall – the future home of the College of Business – to a baseball announcer calling a home run. They’re going, going … and almost gone.

Inspired by the desire to reciprocate all he has received from the Florida State University College of Business, alumnus Jay Steele (BS Accounting ’90; JD Emory University ’94) recently gifted $100,000 to his alma mater.  The donation will go toward naming a room in Legacy Hall, the college’s new home.