Friday, November 6, 2009

Texas billionaire Ross Perot has pledged $6.1 million to fund programs at Fort Leavenworth's Command and General Staff College.

Perot's pledge will support two initiatives under development. He made the pledge after visiting the college late last month.

The money will fund the Col. Arthur D. Simons Center for the Study of Interagency Cooperation, and the Gen. Hugh Shelton Chair in Ethics. Simons is noted for his rescue of prisoners in Vietnam in 1970 and two of Perot's employees held prisoner in Iran in 1979.

Shelton is a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and close friend of Perot's.

Perot's gift is to the Command and General Staff College Foundation, established in 2005 to support the Army's efforts to educate U.S. and international officers.