Dedicated Engineering Alum Passes Away

David G. Sant, 70, died Sunday July 27, 2008, in San Jose, Calif., of cancer. David is the son of Arnold and Deene Sant (deceased). He grew up in Preston, Idaho, along with his brother, Lynn.

He is survived by his wife, Diann (Larsen), son, Jeffrey D., daughter Jennifer D. Bermudez (Steven), grandsons, Jake and Sam and brother, Lynn (Leann).

 

David served in the United States Air Force. After returning he attended Utah State and earned both his Bachelor’s (’62), and Master’s (’64) degrees in Electrical Engineering. He went on to earn an MBA from Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, Calif. David had a successful career for more than 35 years in the telecommunications and computer industry, working first at IBM as a diagnostic computer programmer after graduating from Utah State, then on to Rolm, VMX, and Stracom. He founded several start-up companies, specializing in newly-funded companies in voice and data communications, and built over 12 national sales organizations.

 

David once said, “I wanted to give back to the community. There is no better way to do that than to support the institutions that equipped me for my career.”

 

David and his wife Diann donated more than $7.5 million to Utah State. The new David G. Sant Engineering Innovation Building was dedicated June 13, 2008, with David as the honored guest.

 

College of Engineering students, faculty and staff are grateful for the privilege of working with David to share his vision of the power of innovation to transform the world through this state of the art facility.

 

David’s generous gifts to Utah State include: the Sant Franklin County Engineering Scholarship; Sant General Engineering Scholarship; Sant Graduate Fellowship; Sant Undergraduate Corporate Research Scholarship and the Thomas Berghoff Memorial Scholarship (in honor of his good friend). The gifts have helped hundreds of students receive scholarships at Utah State in the College of Engineering.

 

David and Diann also contributed generously to the library in Preston, Idaho, renamed the Larsen-Sant Public Library after both of their mothers.