Al Tuntland’s greatest passions in life included flying and his alma mater.

He blended those two by flying leadership from South Dakota State University and the Foundation on fundraising calls throughout the country. In 2009, he gifted his Piper Malibu DLX to the Foundation, laying the groundwork for a partnership where other aircraft were purchased for SDSU’s flourishing aviation program.

With a cancer diagnosis in 2020 and his decision in the fall of 2021 to suspend treatment, Tuntland’s love of flying and SDSU led him to one of his final philanthropic acts. He wanted to make a $50,000 gift to a proposed new hangar that would house planes for the program, adding to the $1.2 million that he and his wife, Sharon, had already gifted to SDSU.

Within days, friends pledged another $110,000 in his honor to have the facility named the Alan O. Tuntland Aviation Hangar. Tuntland’s health prevented him from making the trip from Rochester, MN, for a September 29 groundbreaking. His longtime friend, Jim Woster, a fellow 1962 alum, spoke at the event. 

“For Alan Tuntland to be a part of something that ties South Dakota State and aviation together with the same yellow and blue bow,” Woster said, “I can’t tell you just how special that is for him.”

One of the shovels used at the groundbreaking was sent to Tuntland. He succumbed to cancer 12 days after the ceremony.

At Tuntland’s memorial service, flying and SDSU were weaved prominently into the eulogies. Tuntland’s son-in-law, Terry Stamman, said while Al’s love of flying allowed him to, “soar with the eagles, he preferred to run with the Jackrabbits.”

The Alan O. Tuntland Aviation Hangar will be completed by early fall of 2022.