As he sat down in the middle of a crowded Chinese restaurant at a suburban Detroit strip mall, B. Joseph White knew this place was not the ideal setting for soliciting a large donation from one of U-M’s most prominent graduates. But the eatery was one of Bill Davidson’s favorites, not far from his Guardian Industries headquarters in southeast Michigan. White, in his second year as dean of what is now the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, needed a big gift to kick-start a fundraising campaign with the theme “The Point is the People” — a refocusing of spending on students and faculty at the school. As the two talked, White reviewed in his head some recent tutoring he’d received about fundraising, how “consider” is the most important word, and made his pitch to Davidson. “I asked if he would consider a very significant gift to do something important for our students and faculty, something he would be proud of,” White recalled of the September 1991 lunch. “He said yes, he would.” As an indication that Davidson was anticipating White’s request, he pulled a sheet of paper out of his jacket pocket. “I have a challenge here for you,” he said as he handed White the paper. On it was the framework for a nonprofit center or institute Davidson was thinking about: affiliated with the university but independent from it with its own faculty and students. The single sheet of paper, stained by grease and soy sauce by the end of lunch, was the first step in creating the William Davidson Institute (WDI) at the University of Michigan. In 2017, WDI celebrated 25 years of developing knowledge and enabling firms, governments, nonprofits and NGOs to more quickly engage with the world economy while enriching the international experiences of U-M faculty and students. Davidson didn’t specify a focus area for the institute in his outline, but initial ideas included manufacturing based on Davidson’s work with his glass-making company or something focused on improving the city of Detroit — another issue important to him. Eventually, the idea of an institute studying transition economics in the wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall and with it, communism, resonated with Davidson. Guardian had recently begun operating a glass plant in communist Hungary — considered to be one of the most progressive countries in the Soviet bloc. During the negotiations, Davidson had been shocked by the government’s ignorance when it came to market economies. “He was struck by how little they knew,” said Ralph Gerson, a former Guardian senior executive involved in the negotiations and a WDI board member since the Institute began. “They did not have any sense of market principles or have a clue about how assets are properly valued.” In order for the transaction to take place, Guardian “I asked if he would consider a very significant gift to do something important for our students and faculty, something he would be proud of. He said yes, he would.” An Innovative Institute B. Joseph White 25th Anniversary 5