Etched in stones
A family shaped by UD invests in the Flyers who will follow.
Bill Stone ’91 and Beth Seese Stone ’91 fell in love with — and at — UD. Now, they’re helping future students do the same.
“Part of the reason I feel strongly about doing things for Dayton is because they gave me scholarships to come there,” said Bill. Beth agreed: “I wouldn’t have been able to go, my parents weren’t in the position.”
They each excelled in finance and were recruited to investment bank Salomon Brothers before graduation. But their most formative class might’ve been from Father Norbert Burns, S.M. ’45 — who died in 2020 — and his famous Christian Marriage course, which they took as a dating couple.
“Bill and I would sit at the kitchen table at the Garden Apartments where he lived, and we would just laugh,” Beth said. The course, she added, “gave us a chance to think about what life would be like and the things you need to think about when you get married.”
For them, that was UD: an education that shaped the whole person.
When their son Will Stone ’25 was a sophomore, they joined the Parent Leadership Council. “[The administrators] actually take the suggestions from the parents and they don’t act on everything, but they certainly take it to heart,” Beth said. “It’s not just an opportunity for us to give back, but because we have such a fondness for the University, we still like to be involved with it.”
Will embraced UD’s opportunities: engineering coursework and internships, a semester in Korea, research, club sports and ceramics — and now, he’s pursuing a mechanical engineering graduate degree.
“I know other universities have these kinds of things, but Dayton made it available and helped him figure it out,” Bill said. “He’s had a lot of good opportunities through the University, doing things typical engineers can’t work into their schedules. …And coming from the business perspective, there are a lot of smart people in the world, but part of the beauty of Dayton is developing well-rounded people that compete well in the working world.”
“If you’ve been lucky enough to do well, you should try and return the favor. Hopefully, the virtuous cycle continues.”
Beth retired as a senior investment consultant, and Bill serves as chief investment officer of Glenview Trust Co., the largest independent trust company in Kentucky. In 2023, they established the Stone Family Scholarship to assist students — with a preference for those in the honors program — in the School of Engineering and the School of Business Administration.
“If you’ve been lucky enough to do well, you should try and return the favor,” the couple said. “Hopefully, the virtuous cycle continues.”
Photograph by Mortaza Anwari '27.
A version of this article appears in print in the Spring 2026 University of Dayton Magazine, Page 44. EXPLORE THE ISSUE — MORE ONLINE