Leaving a Legacy: Bob and Lale Longenbaugh

Bob and Lale Longenbaugh

Former assistant state engineer, longtime faculty member, and Colorado State University alumnus Bob Longenbaugh and his wife, Lale, have named Colorado State University's College of Engineering as the beneficiary of a $1 million estate gift.

The planned gift will supplement the Longenbaugh Endowed Scholarship in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The scholarship supports undergraduate civil and environmental engineering students who have an interest in water resources and who demonstrate significant financial need.

"Bob Longenbaugh has always been generous to Colorado State University," said Sandra Woods, dean of the College of Engineering. "We will always be grateful for his support for, advocacy of, and dedication to the University. This gift will enable the civil engineering department to attract qualified students and will enable our mission to engineer global solutions."

Bob Longenbaugh, a two-time alumnus of the University's agricultural engineering program, graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1957 and a master's degree in 1962. His parents, the late Harry and Frances Longenbaugh, graduated from Colorado State University — then Colorado A&M — in 1927.

Bob Longenbaugh spent 19 years on the civil engineering faculty at CSU before being named assistant state engineer, a position he held for 11 years before retiring.

"The Longenbaugh gift will transform the lives of students through scholarship support, additional funding for water resource research, and state-of-the art equipment. In addition, the gift will allow us to renovate and update some of our water resource laboratories," said Luis Garcia, chair of the civil and environmental engineering department.

Longenbaugh's groundwater research is a principal component of the Groundwater Data Collection in the CSU Water Resources Archive, which is housed in the Morgan Library and is a joint effort of the University Libraries and the Colorado Water Resources Research Institute. Longenbaugh conducted research across the state of Colorado, concentrating mainly on the Eastern Plains and the South Platte Valley.