ANN ARBOR—A $4 million gift from the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Foundation, named for the University of Michigan’s class of 1982 graduate, will establish the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Flight Vehicle Institute in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at U-M.

Bagnoud’s mother, Albina du Boisrouvray, will visit campus Oct. 6 to sign the agreement that establishes the institute. Alon Kasha, one of Bagnoud’s closest friends and former roommate at U-M, will also be present.

The institute will house all other programs previously established by Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Foundation, which include: the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Professorship of Aerospace Engineering, the Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Fellowships, and the Center for Rotary and Fixed Wing Air Vehicle Design Center. The gift will establish a permanent endowment to support the graduate fellows, as well as other activities of the new Institute. Gifts from the FXB Foundation to U-M currently total $12.8 million.

Francois-Xavier Bagnoud entered the Department of Aerospace Engineering in 1979 and graduated three years later with a degree in aerospace engineering. Bagnoud was passionate about flying, and wanted to use the technology to help society. At age 23, he joined his father’s company, Air Glaciers, a private rescue and mountain flying company in the Swiss Canton, Valais.

On Jan. 14, 1986, Bagnoud was killed in a helicopter accident, at age 24, while flying over the desert in Mali, West Africa. At the time, he was the youngest professional instrument rated (IFR) pilot in Europe of both single-wing airplanes and helicopters. His parents, Albina du Boisrouvray and Bruno Bagnoud, his stepfather George Casati, and friends started the Fran