Investing in People 

For Rozanne Rosenthal, B.S. ’74, and Billy Rosenthal, BBA ’72, business and philanthropy are all about the people. The couple, who met at The University of Texas at Austin, have given $25 million to what is now known as the Rozanne and Billy Rosenthal Department of Management. It is the first academic department at McCombs to be named for a major benefactor. 

The UT Tower shone burnt orange on Tuesday, Jan. 16, in the honor of the Rosenthals after a celebration and naming ceremony in the Hall of Honors at McCombs. 

The Rosenthal family business began in Fort Worth in 1935 when Billy Rosenthal’s grandfather, Ben H. Rosenthal, a Russian Jewish immigrant, rented a single meat locker, bought some beef in the nearby stockyards, processed it, and sold it to local clubs and hotels. He called his venture Standard Meat Company. 

Billy’s father, Manny, hired him to work at the family business when he was just 14. Manny encouraged his son to follow in his footsteps and attend Texas A&M University, but Billy was set on getting a business education at The University of Texas.  

“If you’re going to be an accountant, you’ve got to learn accounting. If you’re going to be a doctor, you have to learn about the sciences. But for business, it’s all about getting along with people,” says Billy Rosenthal, chairman of Standard Meat Company. “I think that’s the most important thing you can learn in college.”  

At UT, Billy met lifelong friends, including the love of his life, Rozanne. A Bay City native who graduated with a degree in elementary education, she was also pursuing work in her family’s passion — education — and making her own “forever friends.”   

Their paths diverged after Billy graduated, but they reconnected a few years later and married in 1978. Just three years later, Billy became president of Standard Meat and began leading the company through decades of innovation, growth, and acquisition that culminated in the company’s return to full family ownership — under the co-presidency of Billy and Rozanne’s two oldest children, Ashli and Ben — in 2019.  

Nearly a century after its founding, Standard Meat Company is in its fourth generation of family ownership. The Rosenthal name is equally legendary in the food industry and the world of philanthropy in Fort Worth, around Texas, and across the country. 

Billy, who was inducted into the McCombs Hall of Fame in 2005, remembers his grandfather giving away money even during Standard Meat’s leanest times. And he remembers the pride his father expressed when he could start making significant gifts to people and causes.  

“I was also taught that giving was just something you did naturally and that it felt good to give of yourself,” Rozanne says. Her family’s long history of volunteerism and community support led her to what she calls her “life’s work”: founding and leading the Fort Worth affiliate of the global breast cancer research and support nonprofit Susan G. Komen to honor her best friend and UT roommate, Joan Katz, B.S. ’74, a four-time breast cancer survivor. 

The McCombs gift is an expression of the couple’s gratitude and a way to inspire and improve education for future generations of students.   

“What’s a better way to give back than to something that gave us such an opportunity?” Billy asks. “That department is going to be a living legacy that our kids, our grandkids, and the next generations to come will see — not just our names, but the idea of giving back. If people don’t understand the importance of giving to others, they really don’t understand life.”  

The gift will enable the department to dramatically increase its efforts around research, teaching, and academic innovation. 

“This gift is a powerful example of what can happen when the values and sense of purpose of a family align with the mission of a department,” says Caroline Bartel, chair of the Rosenthal Department of Management. “At the heart of what we do as a department is in the human part of business enterprise — how people motivate, influence, and lead others, and how they make decisions and work together to strengthen the vitality and success of their companies. The Rosenthals’ gift will greatly amplify our ability to make such a difference.” 

Dean Lillian Mills adds: “Their gift will be a huge part of a transformation that will help us to stay on the cutting edge of change. So, when people see our work, they can truthfully say, ‘What starts here changes the world.’”