May 10, 2007 :: No. 197

Dan Black graduated from Cal State Fullerton in 1967 with a bachelor’s degree in physics and a dream of using that knowledge to meet and work with physicists. He realized that dream, even though he never became a physicist.

Then, in 1998, the same year he sold his first multimillion-dollar company, and shortly before he launched his second one, he returned to his alma mater to ask how he could give back.

For his accomplishments in the business world and for what he has done for the university since the day he asked that question, an honorary doctorate will be conferred upon Black May 20, during Cal State Fullerton’s 48th annual commencement ceremonies.

“I thought it was a mistake when I was told. I know what my grades were,” he said, chuckling. “I’ve always described myself as a good, solid, B-minus physics student.” But, he said, “I may not have had as much success if I had gone into business studies instead of physics. It seems to be harder to teach science to business students than to teach business to science students. And I want to emphasize that you don’t have to be an A student to succeed. As long, that is, as you have a good work ethic, dedication and a flexible approach.”

“I couldn’t think of anyone more deserving of this honor than Dan Black,” said Cal State Fullerton President Milton A. Gordon, who nominated the alumnus for the honor, which is jointly awarded by the California State University and Cal State Fullerton. “He came back to this university, on his own, to help. He started the Dan Black Program for Physics and Business; he has donated funds; he has lectured and given talks; and he continues to expand his support.

This honor has been earned.”

Black told Gordon that day almost 10 years ago that without his education at Cal State Fullerton, he probably would not have been able to achieve all that he has.

That B-minus and the degree in physics were hard-earned. Black had just finished his service in the U.S. Air Force and was newly married when he enrolled at Cal State Fullerton. He had to fit his marriage, classes, study and a job into his schedule. When he graduated, he said, the financial pressure was still on, so he used his new knowledge to land a job at EG&G, a firm selling physics equipment. Not long after starting, he was promoted to marketing manager and it was then, he said, he realized the value of his physics education at Cal State Fullerton.

“I hired my replacement, and he was a physics graduate from MIT. He had exactly the same degree I had, but he was working for me,” Black recalled.

In 1973, Black started his first company, Trace Analysis Laboratory, which analyzed hair samples for medical and forensic purposes. He left that enterprise behind a year later and launched MineraLab — later renamed Advanced Medical Nutrition Inc. — which began with a single item but had expanded to offer more than 500 products by the time Black sold the business in 1998, the same year he called Gordon to ask how he could help.

Since then, Black started the international nutritional-supplement company ProThera and also found the time and the means to make a gift to his alma mater of $4.2 million— a combination of cash and pledges — to serve on the Cal State Fullerton Philanthropic Foundation Board, initiate the university’s Dan Black Program in Physics and Business and support it with donations of up to $75,000 a year, as well as sponsor scholarships for upper-division physics majors.

The Dan Black Program in Physics and Business is for students who are pursuing a degree in physics but do not want to be physicists. It teaches them how to be entrepreneurial with their knowledge, as Black was. The scholarships are designed to alleviate the need for students to work full time while earning a degree, as Black had to do.

Roger Dittman, emeritus professor of physics and frequently cited by Black as one of the professors who inspired him as a student, remembers a particular conversation: “President Gordon, Dan and I were meeting together in recent times when Dan mentioned to the president ‘Roger wouldn’t let me fail.’ Dan, as a student, had been recently discharged from the service and had a family to support. He was struggling.

“I tried to help, encourage, tutor and inspire, but it was his persistence, hard work and engaging personality that wouldn’t let him fail.

“Now,” said Dittman, “every time I walk by Dan Black Hall I get a shot of what former Gov. Jerry Brown called ‘psychic income.’ That is the joy of seeing one’s students succeed, and succeed well.

Steven Murray, dean of the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, where the  Physics Department is housed, has worked directly with Black on many occasions. “The presentation of an honorary doctorate degree is one of the highest honors given by the CSU,” said Murray. “Dan Black has distinguished himself in many ways, and he is truly deserving of this honor.”

Roger Nanes, emeritus physics professor and former chair of the Physics Department has worked with the entrepreneur for seven years and continues to direct the Dan Black program. Nanes characterizes Black as “a steady and constant friend of the Physics Department.

“He has also been generous with his time and has been serving in numerous advisory capacities,” Names said. “I am very pleased to have been able to work with Dan in a variety of ways over the years, and I am delighted that he is being recognized with the honorary doctorate.”

Black will be the fifth Cal State Fullerton graduate to be recognized in this way. He joins James D. Woods, former CEO of Baker Hughes and another member of  Class of ’67; former Inter-Tel CEO Steven G. Mihaylo, Class of ’69; best-selling mystery writer Elizabeth George, Class of ’79; and international businessman Garth C.C. Chang, Class of ’65, who were honored in 2006, 2005, 2004 and 2001, respectively.

“Whatever they want me to do — short of being a chairman — I’ll do,” Black said about his love for, and support of, his alma mater. “As long as it’s active. I don’t want titles; I want to do something.

“I wear my CSUF shirt; I ask people for money for the university; I talk about it all the time; I have CSUF Alumni license plates on my car,” he said, chuckling again. “But when I heard I was going to be given an honorary doctorate, it took me completely by surprise.”

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