Nebraska business scholarship honors alumnus Ron Rotherham

The family of University of Nebraska-Lincoln alumnus Ronald “Ron” J. Rotherham has honored the Ewing native by establishing a scholarship in his memory. Their gift to the University of Nebraska Foundation creates a permanent endowment to support the education of business students at Nebraska.

The scholarship is designated to annually help students with financial need who are enrolled at the Nebraska College of Business in the School of Accountancy, Department of Economics or Department of Finance. Students from Nebraska counties where the Rotherham family has history and roots – Holt, Antelope, Madison and Lancaster – will receive first preference.

“This generous gift by the Rotherham family will provide a world-class, Big Ten business education for students in accounting, economics or finance for years to come,” said Donde Plowman, executive vice chancellor and chief academic officer at Nebraska and former dean of the business college. “What a fitting tribute to the legacy of Ron Rotherham and his commitment to higher education and the Nebraska College of Business.”

Tyler Butterfield, a sophomore accounting major from Madison County, was selected by the college as the 2017-18 recipient of the Ronald James Rotherham Scholarship and received a $4,100 award for tuition assistance.

Raised in Ewing, Rotherham attended public schools there and graduated in 1956. He then attended Nebraska, where he studied business, accounting and literature, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 1960.

He and his wife of 46 years, Dodie Rotherham, met in 1959 in Lincoln while he was studying at Nebraska and she was studying at the St. Elizabeth School of Nursing. They married in Lincoln on Aug. 26, 1961. Their son and daughter-in-law, James and Christine Rotherham, are the parents of two daughters, Brianna and Natalie.