Distinguished Service Award
Bob FitzSimmons2025 Distinguished Service Award Winner
Bob FitzSimmons was recognized with the Club's 2025 Distinguished Service Award for creating a legacy of community leadership, engagement and philanthropic support. He is just the 16th club member to be recognized in the award's 103 year history.
FitzSimmons has left and continues to leave his imprint as a donor and avid supporter of college education. He supports numerous college scholarships at his high school, St. Joseph, Missouri Central, his undergraduate university, Kansas University, the Lincoln Community Foundation, the Lincoln Public Schools Foundation, and the University of Nebraska Foundation.
Bob’s interest in scholarships started many years ago after his mother, Mildred Galloway FitzSimmons, passed away. With one year in college, his mother earned a teaching certificate at Northwest Missouri State University during the great depression. Twenty-five years later she received a four-year degree from Northwest Missouri State.
Recognizing this dedication, Bob said, “I started my first of what are now 14 college scholarships, of which eight are fully endowed for perpetuity.” After that first scholarship, he asked members of his high school class to assist in establishing a Class of 58 Annual Scholarship. With more than fifty willing to assist, that became a fully endowed $3,000 scholarship. And the list continued to grow with scholarships started at the University of Kansas, the University of Nebraska, TeamMates of Nebraska and the Foundation for Lincoln Public Schools.
FitzSimmons is a multi-career person who never stops giving and bringing out ideas to support the community. After college, he started out as a U.S. Air Force Procurement Officer. After that, he received his MBA degree in marketing from Northwestern University. Over the next 25 years, Bob was a product manager at Quaker Oats, Miles Laboratories and Sandoz Laboratories.
He retired at age 50 to start his own business as a Certified Financial Planner, with more than 35 years as founder and owner of FP Wealth Management Inc., providing services to clients in twenty-five states. With numerous awards from his involvement in the financial service industry, FitzSimmons has always found time to volunteer for many activities and worthy causes in the Lincoln Community. Bob has served as President of the Lincoln Center Kiwanis Club, the Clubs Foundation, past president of the Club’s Foundation, past president of his church foundation, and currently serves as the Vice Chair of the State-owned Wyuka Cemetery and Funeral Home.
Past Awardees
