From a young age, Stanley R. Zupnik (’59) knew he wanted to be a builder and real estate developer. The Washington, D.C., native was the first in his family to attend college and earn a bachelor’s degree. A civil engineering major, Zupnik started his education having already worked as an engineer on job sites.
After graduating, he went to work in the construction industry as one of a few builders he knew with the advantage of an engineering degree. In 1964, Zupnik launched his own construction firm, Majestic Builders, which quickly became among the greater Washington, D.C., region’s top residential construction management and general contracting firms; Majestic was also among the first firms to use IBM System/36 computers for project management and scheduling.
To help position the next generation of engineers to build a smarter future for the good of all, the real estate mogul who never forgot the impact of his Maryland Engineering education made a $25 million naming gift toward the state-of-the-art, 157,000-square-foot Stanley R. Zupnik Hall. UMD’s newest facility for research, innovation, entrepreneurship, and education—which will ceremonially break ground in November 2022—will foster collaboration between a number of engineering disciplines.
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