Heywood fralin biography definition

Heywood Fralin, photographed at Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute in Roanoke.

Heywood Fralin wanted to do something different.

His older brothers had enrolled at Virginia Tech, so the younger Fralin chose the University of Virginia, a decision that would fuel sibling and sports rivalries for many years.

Hokie culture, however, was woven deep into Fralin’s family life, so when Virginia Tech first asked him to serve in early 1993, he did not hesitate.

Older brother Horace Fralin ’48, a longtime Hokie and successful leader in education and philanthropy, had died recently from cancer.

A new member of the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors, Horace Fralin had attended only one meeting prior to his death.

Then-Virginia Tech President James D. McComas reached out to the younger brother, Heywood Fralin, with an unusual request.

“Jim called me, and he said ‘I have a crazy question for yo