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Foundation Alumnus to Serve as RI President

When Ray Klinginsmith takes office in 2010, he will become the first RI president who is an alumnus of the Foundation’s Ambassadorial Scholarships program.

“When you travel as a student, you see the internationality of Rotary, and it’s very impressive. It’s what encouraged me to join Rotary immediately and to work in Rotary all these years,” says Klinginsmith, whose scholarship took him to South Africa in 1961, during apartheid.

A native of Unionville, Missouri, USA, a town of just 2,000 people, Klinginsmith is the son of a Rotarian and “grew up going to Rotary picnics.” When he applied for the Ambassadorial Scholarship (in the early 1960s, the children of Rotarians were eligible to apply), the whole club took an interest. “After I was selected, they invited me to attend all the Rotary meetings free of charge until I left,” he recalls, adding that he has attended Rotary meetings for 49 years.

Klinginsmith studied at the University of Cape Town, an institution that at that time resisted government regulations by allowing both blacks and people of mixed racial descent to enroll as students. There, Klinginsmith studied under social anthropologist Monica Hunter Wilson, known for her fieldwork in native African communities and for her opposition to apartheid.

“She was a fascinating lecturer,” Klinginsmith says. One thing he learned from Wilson, he says, is that “every culture has wisdom that we often overlook. It’s only when you live there and get to know it that you begin to understand.”

During his scholarship year, Klinginsmith traveled 25,750 km (16,000 miles) to speak to 35 Rotary clubs across Southern Africa, including present-day Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

In divisive South Africa, he recalls, Rotary clubs were one of the few places where English- and Afrikaans speaking white people mixed. “Many clubs conducted meetings in both languages — in Afrikaans one week and in English the next,” he says.

After returning to the United States, Klinginsmith completed a law degree at the University of Missouri. He served as general counsel, dean of administration, and a part-time business professor at Northeast Missouri State University in Kirksville (now Truman State University) for more than 20 years. He also remained active in Rotary, serving as district governor and as chair of the 1998 Council on Legislation in New Delhi and the 2008 Los Angeles Convention Committee. Klinginsmith also served on the RI Board of Directors for 1985-87 and chaired its executive committee in 1986-87.

He joined The Rotary Foundation Trustees in 2002, serving as vice chair in 2005 - 2006, and was chair of The Rotary Foundation Alumni Advisory Committee in 2007-2008 and 2008-2009. A Major Donor, he is a recipient of the Foundation’s Citation for Meritorious Service and Distinguished Service Award.

His long experience with Rotary, Klinginsmith says, helps him understand what people want and need from Rotary. Foundation alumni, for example, are often interested in participating in Rotary projects, even if they do not wish to become Rotarians. “You don’t have to be a Rotarian to work on a service project. You don’t have to be a Rotarian to make a contribution to the Foundation,” Klinginsmith says. “We need to keep our alumni involved.”