Fran Jabara, a well known businessman and leader in the world of entrepreneurship, passed away Saturday. Jabara was a former WSU Professor and founded the university's Center for Entrepreneurship.
Jabara joined WSU in 1949 and remained part of the faculty for 40 years, establishing WSU’s Center for Entrepreneurship in 1977.
Considered the first of its kind, the program has been recognized internationally as one of the finest, most comprehensive curriculums in the nation.
Lou Heldman, vice president of strategic communications at WSU, describes Jabara as a transformative figure in Wichita's history who was tremendously unselfish.
"Some people who have been successful hoard information," Heldman says. "It's almost as if they're afraid that if they share the basis of success with others, that somehow their own success will be diminished. Fran took the opposite view. He thought that the more people in Wichita that were successful, the more he would be elevated because he cared so deeply about community."
There will be a visitation from 3 to 6 p.m. tonight at Downing and Lahey Mortuary East Mortuary.
The funeral service is planned for tomorrow at 7 p.m at St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral. Burial services will take place Wednesday at Old Mission Cemetery. Fran Jabara was 90 years old.