Why We Give: Jim, Bruce, and Steve Rogers

Why We Give: Jim, Bruce, and Steve Rogers by Chuck Wasserstrom

Brotherly Love

Several months after his father passed away in 2012, Jim Rogers, Jr. had an idea: What could he and his brothers, Bruce and Steve, do to honor their dad’s legacy?

“Our dad was extremely fond of the University of Chattanooga and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He loved the University,” Jim Jr. says. “I thought the best way we could remember him, and for others to remember him going forward, was to set up a scholarship.”

The late Jim Rogers was a 1955 University of Chattanooga graduate, earning a bachelor’s degree in engineering physics, and a former adjunct professor in the UTC College of Engineering and Computer Science. To honor his contributions as a professional engineer, community volunteer and teacher, his sons created the James W. Rogers Endowed Scholarship.

“We all felt that it would be something that he would really have loved to have known that we had done for him,” Jim Jr. says. “This is just a way to remember him and his love and his involvement with the University and teaching.”

As part of the scholarship, the brothers specified that recipients “embody a servant spirit, displaying initiative and service in the best interests of the University, their fellow students, and the local community.”

Steve, the youngest of the three, said their dad would have wanted to meet scholarship recipients.

“He would have taken the time to get to know them personally,” Steve says. “I meet people all the time that, as soon as they find out I’m Jim Rogers’ son, they tell me, ‘Oh, your dad helped me out with this and he lived a life of service. He was just an impressive person.’”

After serving as a U.S. Air Force pilot and graduating from the University, Jim Rogers spent his professional engineering career at Combustion Engineering, an American-based, multi-national engineering firm that developed nuclear steam supply power systems in the United States.

He retired in 1984 to pursue his twin interests of teaching and volunteering.

He worked as an adjunct professor of mechanical engineering at the University for 13 years and was an active member of the UTC Alumni Council. “He loved working in that capacity with Jayne Holder, supporting various events around the campus and interacting with students,” Bruce recalls.

He also volunteered without fanfare with several Chattanooga-area charities, most notably the Chambliss Children’s Home and the local Ronald McDonald House. “He worked as an engineer for 26 years and then volunteered for the next 27,” Steve says. “I don’t know how he ever got started with this, but he decided to work within the community; he would go around and pick up food every day. He’d fill up a van full of food and drive around, dropping food off at places in need of support. It was amazing what he did.”