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Indiana University awarded Robert H. McKinney an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree during the campus-wide IUPUI Commencement. He is the benefactor of the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. The event took place on May 12 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

"I was very proud to be able to present Robert H. McKinney as he received his honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Indiana University," said Dean Andrew R. Klein. "We are grateful to him not only for his generosity as our school’s benefactor, but also for the tremendous example of service that he sets for our students."

Bob McKinney, whose motto is "doing well by doing good," has been virtually unparalleled in his support of Indiana University. He served on the IU Board of Trustees (1989-98, including one year as president) and on the board of advisors of IUPUI (chairman). Additionally, McKinney was an advising director to the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs. He is currently a member of the Robert H. McKinney School of Law Board of Visitors and the Indiana University Foundation Board of Directors. He has also served the Center on Representative Government (formerly the Center on Congress) at IU as an advisory board member.

McKinney's financial support of Indiana University includes the naming gift to the IU Robert H. McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis, announced in 2011, which also provides funding for five endowed chairs and an endowment to fund the McKinney Family Scholarships. Further, he has contributed to the IU Maurer School of Law and the IU School for Public and Environmental Affairs. Indiana University and the IU Foundation honored him with the Herman B Wells Visionary Award in 2017 for his lifetime commitments of time, talent, and treasure to IU.

Bob McKinney was born and raised in Indianapolis. He earned a Bachelor of Science in engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and served on destroyers in the Pacific Theater for three years near the end of World War II. He also had a temporary appointment to Gen. MacArthur's staff before returning to law school in Indianapolis in 1949. He was later called upon to serve in the Korean War for two years, after the completion of his law degree from Indiana University.

Until his retirement in 2005, McKinney was chairman and CEO of First Indiana Company, parent company of First Indiana Bank (now BMO Harris Bank). He was chairman and CEO of the Somerset Group Inc. and a founding partner of Bose McKinney & Evans LLP in Indianapolis. His commitment to community-based banking prompted President Jimmy Carter to appoint McKinney as chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Company, and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Company.

McKinney and his five children actively manage the McKinney Family Foundation, with an emphasis on solving Indiana's environmental issues.

In the photo from left are Robert H. McKinney, Dean Andrew R. Klein, and Indiana University President Michael McRobbie.

View a video biography of Robert H. McKinney.