Ted Zacher gifts over $400,000 to Wenatchee Valley College Foundation

Media Contact: Stacey Lockhart, WVC Foundation executive director, 509.682.6415

Local orchardist and Wenatchee Valley College alumnus Ted Zacher has generously donated more than $400,000 to the WVC Foundation.

Zacher transferred 54,090.86 shares in stock to the WVC Foundation, which equaled a gift totaling $432,723.89.

"This is an opportunity for you to use that money to help other students that really want to get an education," Zacher told Stacey Lockhart, WVC Foundation executive director. "This is an opportunity for those students who live here to go to school."

The gift has been designated as unrestricted funds, which means that the Foundation can apply the funds toward the areas of greatest need. "A gift like this, that allows the Foundation to use it where we can do the most good and have the most impact on the students, is truly transformational," Lockhart said. "Things like this don't happen every day."

Zacher's parents, who emigrated from Romania, met in 1915 and owned land near George. In 1926, they purchased an orchard near Dryden, where Zacher grew up and attended school. After he graduated from Dryden High School in 1940, he attended Wenatchee Junior College, which was then housed in a wing of Wenatchee High School. He played on a six-person basketball team and was transported to games by WJC president W.B. Smith. He graduated in 1942 and transferred with junior standing to the University of Washington.

"I was glad I had the opportunity to go to Wenatchee Junior College, with small classes, and then go to the University of Washington. It's really great to be in a smaller school," Zacher said.

In a little more than a year, he graduated from the UW with a bachelor's degree in economics and business. In 1943, he attended Harvard through a military program. Zacher served as a supply and disbursement officer in the Navy, serving on two destroyers, the U.S.S. George K. MacKenzie and the U.S.S. Glennon.

When he returned home, he worked in his father's orchard for a year, and then went on to sell B.F. Goodrich products through the Wells & Wade Hardware Store in Wenatchee. In 1957, he began working for Wenoka Growers, where he quickly advanced to manager, comptroller, and then president. Zacher helped open apple and cherry markets in Japan for international business. He worked a total of 36 years at Wenoka.