Former Purdue trustee Mike Birck has died

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) – A former member of the Purdue Board of Trustees and a major financial contributor to the university has died.

Seventy-seven-year-old Mike Birck died Monday morning.

Birck spent 14 years on the Purdue Board of Trustees, from 1999 to 2013. He also provided much of the funding for the Birck Nanotechnology Center and the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex.

Birck played baseball at Purdue and was inducted into the Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame in April.

President Mitch Daniels praised Birck’s contributions to Purdue.

“Mike Birck, like all great businessmen, was first of all a creator of jobs and wealth for others. He shared his wisdom and his own wealth with Purdue with enormous generosity,” Daniels said in a statement.