Alumni Profile: David Provost
Honor Thy Father
Birmingham resident David Provost remembers his father as a person committed to helping people in need.
I was born in Korea, where my father was a missionary, says Provost. In the 1960s, he raised money to buy a bankrupt high school and create a Christian-based school. Now, it is one of the largest high schools in South Korea, with more than 3,000 students.
He spent the majority of the time raising money for scholarships, because in Korea students have to pay to go to junior and senior high school. He raised money and sponsored kids. That was his educational influence. He dedicated his entire life to people who needed help.
To honor the memory of his father, Provost, a 1976 alumnus of Alma College, established the Raymond Provost Endowed Scholarship at Alma to assist the children of Presbyterian and Methodist pastors as well as students active in their church youth groups.
Alma College provided me the opportunity to attend through scholarships.I feel strongly that it is important to support Alma College, and I also wanted to provide a scholarship for the children of ministers.
Provost grew up in his father’s church in Mackinaw City, the Church of the Straits. His father passed away in 1997.
One of his wishes was to be buried in his mission field. As the oldest son, I took him back to Korea to be buried.
Provost, chairman of the College’s Board of Trustees, is a regular contributor to his alma mater and supporter of the Open Windows Campaign, the College’s current fund-raising drive.
The strength of a degree is directly related to the strength of the college, and so alumni support is necessary to assure that Alma College remains one of the best institutions in the state of Michigan. Since many alumni received scholarships to attend Alma, we have an obligation to help future students share in the same quality experiences we had.
Provost is chairman and CEO of The PrivateBank in Bloomfield Hills. He has served on the Alma board since 1994. He and his wife, Christine, live in Birmingham.
The $35.25 million Open Windows Campaign, the largest planned fund-raising effort in Alma’s history, focuses on strengthening student opportunities that build on and enhance classroom learning.
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