Kosiba brothers cement their father's Purdue legacy with endowment

A Purdue education was seen as the turning point for one family — and, now, that family wants to ensure it can be for others as well.

Brothers and Purdue University alumni Mark, Ric and Steve Kosiba have — to cement the legacy of their father and fellow alumnus, Richard Kosiba, and their mother, Barbara, a die-hard Boilermaker fan — established an endowment with the Lyles School of Civil Engineering.

Ric Kosiba said he and his brothers have been discussing giving back to Purdue for some time as it was always something they knew they wanted to do.

“One of the things that we always bring up when we talk about our family is how important Purdue was to our family’s lore,” Kosiba said. “It was the foundation for our father to make something for himself and set our family in the direction that it is today.”

Richard Kosiba, a former-chief civil engineer at Bechtel, was raised almost solely by his mother, a Polish immigrant, after his father passed away when Richard was a child, Ric explained. Despite their circumstances, Richard’s mother did all that she could to support him — and, through their hard work — he was able to attend Purdue where he earned a degree in civil engineering.

“From that point on, the Kosiba family bled black and gold,” Ric said. “Despite our family relocating to California, we all ended up going to Purdue for college. We cannot say enough great things about the institution and the doors it opened for our family. And, if you asked my dad, he would say the two most important things that happened in his life, he would always say it was meeting his wife, Barbara, and going to Purdue. We couldn’t be happier to give back to a school and university that gave our family so much.”

Barbara and Richard Kosiba “bled black and gold,” said their son Ric.