News and Progress
County scholarship unites family history with MU
Burgers establish a legacy at Mizzou for Moniteau County, Mo.
Nov. 12, 2008
Morris and Dolores Burger contributed to a full-ride University of Missouri Flagship Scholarship for a student from their home county, Moniteau County. Photo courtesy of Schlomer Photography.
Morris Burger is no “ham.” In fact, Burger, BS Ag ’57, will tell you he is shy by nature. But when it comes to selling ham, no one knows more or does it better. Burgers’ Smokehouse, or “the Ham House,” makes country hams cured the old-fashioned way.
As with most family businesses, Burgers’ Smokehouse started small. The company was founded in 1927 in California, Mo., when Morris’ dad, E.M. Burger, a Moniteau County farmer, sold his first ham. Today, the company has built a nationally recognized brand without ever leaving the Ozarks.
Morris and his wife, Dolores, are proud of their family, the family-run company, their community and their state. They also love the University of Missouri, where Morris was the first in his family to attend college.
Recently, the Burgers found a way to unite their ties to Moniteau County with their attachments to MU through the University of Missouri Flagship Scholars program. The Flagship Scholars program aims to provide full-ride, four-year college scholarships in every Missouri county and gives preference to first-generation students.
“The reason the Flagship Scholars program appealed to us is that both of our families have been in this county for a long time, and both of us were the first of our families to graduate from college,” Morris says.
The Burgers are funding the scholarships creatively, through a bequest and a charitable gift annuity. “We wanted to do something for MU,” Dolores says, “but we liked that the gift annuity guarantees income for both our lifetimes.”
The gift annuity will provide the Burgers with annual payments set at a favorable rate. A portion is tax free. At the end of their lifetimes, the remainder will go into an endowment fund to support scholarships in perpetuity for MU students from Moniteau County.
“Dolores and I are excited to be part of a program that will eventually provide a full-ride, four-year scholarship to a student in each of Missouri’s 114 counties,” says Morris. “I want Missouri to be the best land-grant university in America and that’s why I like this plan. But for the program to work, it’s going to take a commitment from individuals in every county.”
To date, University of Missouri Flagship Scholarships are established in Audrain, Caldwell, Clark, Franklin, Marion and Moniteau counties.