Midland couple helped build the region and students’ futures

Delta College / Delta College Foundation / Journeys / Fall 2023 / Midland couple helped build the region and students’ futures

Delta College recently received a substantial financial gift, established a decade ago by Frank Gerace of Midland before his death. This led to the establishment of the Frank and Helen Gerace Scholarship and an additional fund supporting unrestricted spending.

Delta College’s ground breaking in 1997, for the $26 million Science & Learning Technology project, which was dedicated on October 17, 1999 upon completion. Left to right: Frank Gerace (Gerace Construction), Robert Freeman (State of Michigan), Dr. Peter Boyse (Delta College president), R. Earl Selby (Chair, Delta College Board of Trustees), Robert Hetzler (Chair, Delta College Foundation) and John Meyer (Wigen Tincknell and Meyer Architects).

The Frank and Helen Gerace Scholarship Endowment will be awarded to students in Midland, Bay or Saginaw County studying in any curriculum, with a preference given to those studying business or accounting. Annual distributions from the Frank and Helen Gerace Endowment Fund will support other student needs and projects.

If their name is unfamiliar, some of Geraces’ business accomplishments will be recognizable. If you have ever walked across The Tridge or visited the Santa House in Midland, you have enjoyed the work of Gerace Construction.

Born in April 1922 in Rockaway Beach, New York, but growing up in Canton, Ohio, Frank’s father was a bricklayer, who he assisted as a laborer and apprentice bricklayer. He attended Case School of Applied Science, but as with many young men of that generation, he withdrew to begin active duty in the Naval Air Corps, then served in the U.S. Navy in World War II.

Following the war, he returned to school to earn his Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering and was one of the school's top graduate recruits. Moving to Philadelphia, he would meet his future wife, Helen Leondes.

Helen Leondes Gerace was born in 1929 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and attended Wharton School of Business. Once married, she accompanied Frank to his next position in Chicago and later Bay City in 1958, where he served as a construction superintendent for the Veterans Memorial Bridge.
They had four children from their union: Catherine, Christine, Greg, Camille (Patrick Nitschky) and granddaughter Helena Nitschky.

“Her wit and humor made anyone smile. She instilled hope in everyone,” Camille said of her mother. “She was a creative genius who believed higher education was essential in creating a sense of independence, which was especially empowering to women.”

Delta College opened in 1961 with a much smaller campus than today.
As enrollments grew over the decades, so did the building, while an enterprising Midland company – Gerace Company – would soon launch. The Geraces started Gerace Construction together in Midland in 1963, with Frank as CEO and Helen as CFO. The international firm eventually grew to over $33 million in annual sales.

Gerace Construction's relationship with Delta College began in 1963 when the company landed its first job – a contract to expand Delta’s technical education wing. In the 1970s, they built the fine arts building, and in 1997, the firm began working on its largest project yet – Delta's $26 million science and learning technology project. This modernization plan involved about 40 percent of the campus.

Building on its legacy of education advocacy, Gerace Construction Co. established a scholarship endowment at Delta College decades before to benefit students enrolled in the college's honors program. Helen and Frank, who died in 2008 and 2013, respectively, are remembered as dynamic pillars of Midland – a community they loved.