Marvin Meyers was initiated into the Epsilon Eta Chapter of the Sigma Chi Fraternity in the Spring of 1954. He graduated in 1956 with a degree in Agriculture and, soon thereafter, he was drafted into the Army where he participated with atomic bombing testing in Nevada helping to prepare for the flight that made Alan Shepard the first American in space.

When he finished his military service, he went to work in the Midwest and after a couple of years he returned to Fresno where he went to work for Red Top, a local agriculture chemical business. After several years with encouragement from some of his big farmer clients, he opened up his own business, Meyers Agricultural Chemicals. He sold the company in 1977 after 16 years of being in the business.

During this period, he had purchased a few acres in the Firebaugh area and with his sale of his agricultural chemical company, he went full-time into farming!

During the next 42 years, he accumulated 11,000 acres, of which 6,000 acres were planted with almonds, cherries, pistachios and olives. His purchases included the defunct Spreckels sugar beet processing plant with 900 acres that was located within the Pacific Flyway and used by countless migratory waterfowl each year and the natural habitat to numerous mammals and reptiles on the endangered species lists.

Over several years, these 900 acres not only became a wildlife preserve that is visited by over 1,000 children visit every year, with funds provided by Brother Marvin for the buses and other expenses incurred by the schools, but also the beginning of a “water bank” that would “bank” surplus water in years of abundance to irrigate his crops during drought years. It took 7 years to accomplish this and he was quite proud that it was completed without any government assistance! It is able to store 35,000-acre feet of water or 114 million gallons!

Marvin also owned a ranch in Colorado that has 5 miles of river frontage the he would stock with trout for “catch and release” thus preserving the fish in the stream. His ranch is home to deer and elk as well as bald eagles that nested across the river from his home which he allows to live and prosper.

Brother Meyers received numerous awards from the State of California, Governor’s office and Fresno County, and he also served on many agricultural boards locally and at the state level as both a board member and president. He also contributed to numerous charities along with contributing to Fresno State and Fresno State Sigma Chi Alumni programs.

Three prestigious awards that stand out were his being named a recipient of the Fresno State Alumni Top Distinguished Alumni Award in 2012, Outstanding Alumni of the Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology in 2015, and being named a Sigma Chi Fraternity Significant Sig in 2012.

Marvin served many years as President of the Fresno Sigma Chi Endowment Board stepping down last year because of health issues.  Under his leadership the Endowment increased significantly after the goal was raised to $3,000,000.

Private family services were held.

ALL HONOR TO HIS NAME!

Alumni chapter president, Brad Fischer, recognized the extraordinary time and effort that Chapter Advisor, Dusty Lacefield, has given since the May 6 incident at the Chapter House.  Dusty has spent hours in meetings with the undergraduate brothers and the Fresno State administration hammering out solutions that are appropriate for the Chapter.

A few days prior to the November 21 dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory, Dusty returned from his two-week honeymoon.  He and Haley were married in Hawaii, then the newlyweds flew to the Fiji Islands for another week.

Congratulations to Haley and Dusty, and many thanks to Dusty for his devotion to our fraternity and our local chapter.

On May 13, 2019, AEON Biopharma announced that Marc Forth, was elected to serve as President and CEO of the privately-held Newport Beach company. Marc was initiated with the Spring 1990 pledge class.

According to Cision PR Newswire, “ALPHAEON Corporation announced today that its Board of Directors has named Marc Forth as President and Chief Executive Officer of its newly established, wholly-owned subsidiary, AEON Biopharma, Inc. AEON Biopharma was established to independently pursue the rapidly growing, multi-billion-dollar, therapeutic toxin market. Therapeutic related applications represent greater than 60% of global neurotoxin segment revenues. Mr. Forth joins AEON Biopharma from Allergan, where he was Senior Vice President of Neurosciences, Urology and Medical Dermatology. Mr. Forth led, among other brands, BOTOX® Therapeutic, an organization with annual revenues of approximately $2 Billion.”

Sigma Chis throughout North America congratulate Marc on his success, and we all recognize that the White Cross of Sigma Chi has gained new luster by his life.

The Fresno Sigma Chi Alumni Chapter has created several endowments that provide scholarships to undergraduate Sigma Chis at CSUF.  The alumni brothers who have funded the endowments did so to recognize and reward academic excellence, and also for leadership and brotherhood contributions to the active chapter.

The scholarships are specifically intended to be used by the recipients to help fund their living in the chapter house for the following two semesters.  This makes it financially easier to acquire the “social education” that living in makes possible.  The chapter house is the incubator for acquiring the strong bonds of brotherhood, leadership skills and social skills.  Those brothers who take advantage of the opportunity to live in, will enhance the odds of success in their careers, and thereby raise the level of excellence of Sigma Chi alumni.

The value of strong lifetime friendships is priceless, but the leadership and social skills obtained can be worth millions of dollars over a brother’s lifetime.  Because living in the chapter house is so important to each brother, it is a condition precedent for most, but not all, scholarship awards.

On Monday, October 21 the Fresno Sigma Chi Endowment held its 1st annual scholarship banquet.  It was held at the Chapter House prior to the Active Chapter Monday night formal meeting.  In attendance were 40 undergraduates and 10 alumni.  Brad Fischer opened the ceremony by introducing Significant Sigs and Constantine Sigs who were in attendance.   He then introduced John Ballinger, House Corporation President, who presented the 2019 scholarship plaque to Gio Primavera, Consul of the Active Chapter.

The endowment was able to award $18,000 in scholarships to 9 undergraduate brothers for the 2019/2020 school year.  In addition, we were able to award 17 brothers certificates of academic achievement.  The minimum overall GPA required was 2.8 but many brothers achieved averages close to 4.0.  The brothers awarded certificates were Jordan Ayerza, Cole Blagen, Jacob Boele, Christian Cline, Jacob Culwell, Devin Fiorentino, Nick Firpo, Micah Gross, Patrick Hawkins, Connor Kelley, Quin Pezoldt, Gio Primavera, McKay Romero, Lucas Smith, Jordan Vasquez, Oscar Vazquez and Jonathan Zamora.  The certificates were presented by Fresno Sigma Chi Endowment founder, Tony Flores, and Endowment President, Mike Patton.

The Endowment Board also issued Magic Pens to all 17 recipients.  These were a special order from the Dark Web.  They are capable of writing only correct answers in a university Blue Book.

The endowment had a total of $28,000 available, but technical problems with the application process prevented us from reaching our potential.  Substantial changes have been made in the application process, and undergraduate Scholarship Chairman, Christian Rena, is creating a handbook that will demystify the process.  Because of a significant surge in endowment donations received from Fresno State Sigma Chi alumni, we should be able to give $36,000 in scholarships for the 2020/2021 school year to 18 worthy brothers.

Our objective is to increase the total of our endowments from $720,726 to $3,000,000 by 2023 which will enable us to award $120,000 per year.  When we reach our goal, Epsilon Eta will be the first and only Greek housing in North America to provide affordable housing for its members.

Greetings from Valley Children’s Healthcare Foundation (October 2019 Philanthropy E-News)
A big thank you to Fresno State Sigma Chi Fraternity for donating $30,000 to Valley Children’s through their recent Derby Days event and other activities. In 2018, Fresno State’s Sigma Chi chapter, a Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals partner, raised more funds for their local children’s hospital than any other Sigma Chi chapter in the nation. To date, Sigma Chi has raised more than $211,000! The brothers also brought lots of toys for our patients. We are so grateful to Sigma Chi for helping support the kids we serve.
We Fresno State Sigma Chi alumni can be proud of the philanthropic success achieved by our undergraduate brethren.  The White Cross has gain new luster by their commitments to our community and in particular, Vally Children’s Hospital.

This donation made the Fresno Sigma Chi Active Chapter #1 in philanthropy of all Sigma Chi chapters in 2019.