Wellness Proponent & Alumnus Leaves Nearly $5 Million to OSU programs M.B. “Bud” Seretean’s gifts to benefit wellness education, arts, academics and athletics The Oklahoma State University (OSU) Foundation announced today the receipt of nearly $5 million in securities through a trust established by the late M.B. “Bud” Seretean to benefit two named facilities, two colleges and the university’s athletic department. “Bud was a generous donor and dear friend of OSU who cared deeply for his alma mater, healthy lifestyles and other important issues,” said Kirk A. Jewell, OSU Foundation president and CEO. “His trust will support programs at OSU that represent Bud’s personal passions and we will gratefully honor his legacy.”

M. B. "Bud" Seretean

In accordance with the terms set forth by Seretean’s charitable remainder unitrust, one-third of the securities left to OSU will support operations of the Seretean Center for the Performing Arts; one-third will support operations of the Seretean Wellness Center; and the remaining one-third will be allocated thirty percent each to the Spears School of Business and the OSU men’s varsity golf program and twenty percent each to the College of Human Environmental Sciences and the OSU athletic department.

The 1949 marketing graduate and native New Yorker came to Oklahoma after serving as a field artillery officer in World War II. Seretean attended then Oklahoma A&M on the GI Bill, and after graduation he returned to New York where he earned a master’s degree from New York University the following year.

He began his career as an assistant floor coverings buyer for Allied Stores in New York and later spent 30 years as chairman and CEO of Coronet Industries. Other successful business ventures included co-founding Opti World in Atlanta; co-founding ABC-TV affiliate WGXA in Macon, Ga.; and becoming co-owner of the Atlanta Hawks. He also served as president of the Jewish Welfare Federation and built a Holocaust memorial near Jerusalem to the Jews of Dorohoi, Romania, in recognition of his Romanian heritage.

His dedication to practicing and promoting wellness culminated in his being awarded one of the first Lifetime Achievement Awards from the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports in 2007.

Seretean was an ardent supporter of OSU, providing primary funding for the M.B. Seretean Center for the Performing Arts and for the Seretean Wellness Center making him the only individual to have two separate campus buildings named on his behalf.

“Bud wanted OSU to be the best at everything from sports to health to academics,” said friend and wellness center director Robin Purdie. “His vision of creating the nation’s healthiest campus is a dream OSU continues to perpetuate today.”

In 1999 upon the 50th anniversary of his graduation, OSU presented Seretean with an honorary doctorate for his professional achievements and philanthropic activities.

The Oklahoma State University Foundation serves as the private fundraising organization for OSU, as designated by the OSU Regents. Its mission is to unite donor and university passions and priorities to achieve excellence.

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