J. Erskine Love, Jr & Gay M. Love

..J. Erskine Love Jr., ME ’49, came to Tech at the age of 16 from South Carolina. While at Tech he immersed himself into campus life by pledging Delta Tau Delta, serving as President of the Ramblin’ Reck Club, a member of ANAK and ODK, and also as editor of the Blueprint and Technique. He started the company “Printpack” at age 27 with one machine and himself. With help from his family, Love grew the company to one of the largest packing converters in the world. Amidst the success of his business, he was an active Georgia Tech alum, serving as a trustee and president of the Georgia Tech Foundation and a trustee of the Alumni Association. Love also spearheaded Tech’s historic $100 million Centennial Campaign, alongside Georgia Tech’s President at the time, Joseph M. Pettit.

In the year 1986, J. Erskine Love Jr., established an endowment through Georgia Tech with a generous grant of $100,000. The funds were unrestricted provided that the trustees followed one important condition: that the money be managed exclusively by students. And thus the Georgia Tech Student Foundation was born. Over the past thirty years, the Georgia Tech Student Foundation endowment has grown to approximately $1.5 million, as the investments committee continues to outperform the S&P 500 by 6%. Student members have worked hard over the years to be able to allocate funds to student groups throughout campus for a variety of unique ideas and initiatives that benefit the Georgia Tech community. Over the past thirty years, GTSF has awarded over $800,000 to more than 500 student initiatives on campus. Looking forward, Georgia Tech Student Foundation aims to continue J. Erskine Love Jr.’s legacy by expanding its impact and reach across campus for many years to come. Source.

Gay (McLawhorn) Love, HON 89, of Atlanta, was born in Greenville, N.C., on June 16, 1929. She earned a bachelor’s in English from Duke University. While there, she pursued her passion for music and theater, performing in five productions and singing in the Duke chapel choir.

In 1954, she married the late J. Erskine Love, Jr., ME 49, who founded Printpack. Love, known as the “mother of Printpack,” helped her husband start the company with an initial investment that came from a small dowry from her father. After her husband died in 1987, she assumed the role of chair of the board, serving for more than 18 years before retiring to become chairman emerita in 2005. Love and her husband were engaged in numerous community and charitable activities.

In 2002, she was recognized as “Philanthropist of the Year” by the Atlanta Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. The annual Love Family Foundation Scholarship is one of the highest annual scholarships given to a Georgia Tech student. In 2000, Georgia Tech opened the J. Erskine Love Jr. Manufacturing Building on campus.

Summarized by her son, Jimmy Love: “Most importantly, our mother, Gay Love, was an active, engaging, and loving mother of six, grandmother of twenty-one, and great-grandmother of seven (and counting), who was fondly known to both family and friends as ‘Gayma.’” Source.