Family of Gary A. McMall

Gary McMall was above all else, a teacher. He brought all of himself to teaching, whether that was teaching his growing children Alex and Sara how to do drive, play sports or ski, or in front of a group teaching Dale Carnegie Training for so many years, pulling the best out of each individual. Gary’s gift as a life-long learner and teacher extended to his example of embracing the unknown. At 22, after graduating from Saginaw Valley State College in 1983, he joined a group to ride a bike cross-country from the Atlantic Ocean in Virginia to the Pacific Ocean in Oregon. When he returned, he began his career in the growing computer industry for Burroughs Corporation. He mastered his last frontier of facing the debilitating disease of ALS “Lou Gehrig’s Disease” with grace, strength and faith. He taught all who knew him that when God hands you a disease with no cure or treatment, or anything else life limiting, you do the best you possibly can to enjoy your life for as long as you can.

In 2015, Gary rode a bike around Ireland with his family months before his diagnosis with ALS, masking the symptoms that were already there. And as his disease progressed over the next three years and he could no longer walk or speak, he used his eye gaze computer assisted speech device to connect with Beth, his beloved wife of 33 years and with Alex, his wife, Maddie, and Sara and soon to be husband, Matt, along with loving extended family and friends. He stayed interested in the world and treasured the simple moments together all the way to the end. Gary McMall died February 8, 2018 at the age of 57.

Gary was so proud to be a graduate of the College of Business and Management at Saginaw Valley State University and to be the first in his immediate family to earn an associates degree at Delta College and then a bachelor’s degree as a Cardinal. Gary always encouraged those in his sphere to earn a college degree, especially at SVSU, and that it was possible to do so while working. He always did. Gary’s advice to anyone applying for this scholarship is wisdom that he shared from his computer assisted device with his college bound nephew: “Sit up front in your classes and always sit next to someone smarter than you.” It was his expressed wish that his family establish a scholarship fund at SVSU.