Hunter Automated Machinery recently announced a donation to the Foundry Educational Foundation (FEF), raising the current endowment to $25,000, in memory of Al Hunter, founder of the company and father of current owner Bill Hunter.  Bill made this donation on August 9, presenting a check to the FEF Executive Director, Bill Sorensen. Hunter Automated has been a contributor to the FEF for many years.  Upon the death of Al Hunter in 2011, the family asked that donations be made to the foundation in honor of him.  Once the contributions were collected, the Hunter family asked that FEF establish an endowment to honor Al’s memory, with scholarships provided at selected schools.  The first school chosen was the University of Alabama.  It provides a deserving student a scholarship in Al Hunter’s name. FEF is a non-profit organization and the foundry industry’s first link to the college campus.  The foundation uses funds contributed from the foundry industry to encourage the pursuit of metalcasting as an academic endeavor at schools across the country.  Hunter has pledged to donate $500 every year to FEF, going forward.  As Sorensen explained, “Students will benefit not only from the scholarship monies, but also from getting to know the contributions Al Hunter made to the industry and the substantial legacy he left behind.”  Al Hunter held over 80 patents in his lifetime and was chiefly responsible for the development and implementation of automatic matchplate molding machine technology in the North American and ultimately the global foundry market. Bill Hunter presented the check to Bill Sorensen at Hunter headquarters in Schaumburg, Illinois (Chicago) on August 9, 2012.  “It is our privilege to help fund this scholarship program that both encourages young people to enter the foundry industry and continues to honor the technological contributions made by Al Hunter,” Bill remarked. Sorensen further noted that approximately 90 percent of the students who have received FEF scholarships continue to pursue their careers in metalcasting.