OMWC 2024 Legacy Award to Honor Tom and Jim Duff

Ceremony set Nov. 7 at UM for successful brothers who generously support higher ed

Two of Mississippi’s most successful business-partner brothers and generous supporters of the state’s public institutions of higher education, Tom and Jim Duff, will be honored at the University of Mississippi on Thursday, Nov. 7, at 6:30 p.m. with the 2024 Legacy Award from the Ole Miss Women’s Council for Philanthropy (OMWC).

The award is presented yearly to recipients whose lives exemplify the values and tenets of the OMWC: philanthropy, scholarship, leadership and mentorship — principles long practiced by the Duffs.

The brothers founded and own Duff Capital Investors (DCI), a holding company comprised of 22 separate business units. With revenues of $5.5 billion, DCI is the largest privately owned business in Mississippi.

In 2020, the Duffs — residents of Hattiesburg, Mississippi — made a $26 million gift to Ole Miss to construct the Jim and Thomas Duff Center for Science and Technology Innovation.

“We believe higher education is one of the key factors, if not the key factor, that is vital to transforming our state and ensuring Mississippi has a successful future,” said Tom Duff, who previously served as the president of the state Institutions of Higher Learning board. “By becoming a better, more educated state, our state, in turn, will become more prosperous.”

“For us, providing financial resources to our state’s universities is a way to give students more opportunities for a better life,” said Jim Duff. “Essentially, by supporting our public higher education system, we want to try to help the students in our state help themselves and their communities. We want to help them get the exceptional education necessary to succeed.”

The Duffs’ philanthropic efforts will have a far-reaching impact, said Roane Grantham, OMWC chair.

“The Duff Center will ensure our students can have careers in medicine, chemical engineering, robotics and other growing fields anywhere in the world,” she said. “We are honored to be able to recognize and thank Tom and Jim Duff for their generous investment in our students, our university and our future.”

The Legacy Award ceremony, a ticketed event, will take place inside the new Duff Center, which opened in August. For the 12th year, the C Spire Foundation will serve as Presenting sponsor.

“It has been an honor to present the Ole Miss Women’s Council Legacy Award for over 12 years,” said Beth C. Pickering, president and executive director of the C Spire Foundation. “Congratulations to Jim and Thomas Duff on all their accomplishments and giving back to education in Mississippi. The Duff Center is truly a state-of-the-art, world-class facility for STEM education that will inspire students to think big and do great work.”

Yates Construction and mTrade are serving as Innovator sponsors, and Mississippi Power, the University of Mississippi Foundation, Cooper Communities and the University of Mississippi Medical Center are Fellow sponsors of the Legacy Award. Proceeds from the Legacy Award support programming opportunities for Women’s Council scholars.

The university will host a ribbon cutting for the Duff Center outside the building at 5-5:30 p.m.

This state-of-the-art, 204,000-square-foot science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) facility is the largest academic project in Ole Miss’ history, and it is poised to prepare countless students for STEM-related jobs, which are expected to increase dramatically through 2031.

The Duffs also made a $1 million gift to Ole Miss in 2017 to create the Ernest R. Duff Flagship Constellation Fund to honor their father, a 1955 UM law graduate.

Their additional gifts include support for the Jim and Thomas Duff Athletic Center at the University of Southern Mississippi and the Jim and Thomas Duff Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities and Department of Kinesiology at Mississippi State University. The Duffs plan to give 90% of their estate to charity.

The Duff family’s connection to Ole Miss stretches across three generations, starting with Tom and Jim Duff’s father, Ernest Duff, who was raised in Columbia and earned a law degree in 1955 from UM, said Tom Duff.

“Our father’s parents never finished high school, but he wanted to go to college at Ole Miss even though he didn’t even know where Ole Miss was,” he said.

Ernest Duff excelled in college. He was elected president of the Associated Student Body and participated in other organizations at Ole Miss, including serving on the staff of The Daily Mississippian and Mississippi Law Journal.

After college, he returned to Columbia to practice law and eventually became the owner of a couple of local businesses. Tom and Jim Duff began working at their father’s businesses after school and during summers as young teens.

Tom Duff earned a bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Southern Mississippi; Jim Duff studied business at Utah Valley University. They returned to their hometown and eventually transformed these small family businesses into multimillion-dollar ventures.

“Based on the education our father received at Ole Miss, we owe the success our family has had in business to the university,” Tom Duff said.

“Tom and I, as well as our entire family, have been fortunate in life, and we want to be there for our community and the entire state of Mississippi,” Jim Duff said. “As you get older, you want to give back more than you have taken, so for us, it’s a blessing to be able to do what we can for others.”

“What the Women’s Council has done and is doing is remarkable,” Tom Duff said. “Not only do they offer one of the most generous academic scholarships available to Ole Miss students, but the members provide mentors and leadership training, introduce students to different cultures and provide resources for internships and study abroad opportunities. They do all that while encouraging the students to give back to their communities.”

“We are extremely honored to be recipients of the Legacy Award and we hope we measure up to the incredible mission of the Women’s Council,” said Jim Duff, whose wife, Sherry, earned a B.S. degree in dental hygiene from the University of Mississippi Medical Center, and their daughters, Maggie Duff West and Caroline Duff, earned degrees at Ole Miss.

Past Legacy Award honorees include Donna and Jim Barksdale, Jennifer Gillom and Peggie Gillom-Granderson, Ruth and Dr. Arthur C. Guyton, Dr. Gerald M. “Doc” Hollingsworth, Chancellor Emeritus Robert C. Khayat, Olivia Manning, Charles Overby, Ambassador John N. Palmer, Dolly Parton, Leigh Anne Tuohy, and Elise and Gov. William Winter.

For more information about the Legacy Award and the Ole Miss Women’s Council, contact Suzanne Helveston, program director, at shelveston@olemiss.edu or 662-915-2956.

By Jonathan Scott/UM Development

History of the Legacy Award

In 2000, with the support and approval of the University of Mississippi leadership, 24 diverse women formed the Ole Miss Women’s Council for Philanthropy. Their goal was to encourage women to become philanthropists and to tap into the new emerging paradigm of women taking greater control of their finances. The goal was also to create a program that would provide endowed scholarships for deserving young women and men. The Council quickly added mentoring and leadership components to the program in order to assure the development and success of each scholar.

Over the last 25 years, approximately 196 students have benefitted from the OMWC Scholarship, mentoring, and leadership programs, once described as one of the most creative and timely scholarship programs in the nation. The hands-on involvement of OMWC members and outside mentors and the opportunities for national and international travel have built individual confidence and broadened the education and experiences of the Council Scholars. In addition to graduating and pursuing meaningful careers, these scholars become servant leaders who understand the importance of giving back and creating a more ethical society.

In 2010, the OMWC created the Legacy Award in order to recognize individuals who epitomize the Council’s goals of philanthropy, scholarship, leadership, and mentorship. In honoring the recipients, we thank them for their many and varied contributions that have made a positive difference in the University of Mississippi, our state, and our nation. We hold these honorees up as role models for our scholars. They give inspiration and encouragement to these young people and help the Council in impacting generations to come.