The gateway to Kansas University under construction at 15th and Iowa streets will memorialize former Chancellor Deane Malott, KU officials announced Wednesday.

Robert and Elizabeth Malott of Kenilworth, Ill., have pledged $1 million toward campus landscaping, including the new campus entrance. Robert Malott’s father, Deane, was chancellor from 1939 to 1951.

An artist's illustration shows what the new Kansas University entrance at 15th and Iowa streets will look like when construction is completed. Robert and Elizabeth Malott, Kenilworth, Ill., have pledged million toward campus landscaping, including the entrance, in memory of Robert's father, Deane Malott, former KU chancellor.

Deane Malott, who died in 1996, made landscaping a priority at KU during his tenure. His wife, Eleanor, spearheaded planting efforts on campus and was often seen in jeans and a straw hat watering trees, especially crab apples, redbuds, plums and forsythia.

“I think my father was sensitive to the need to enhance the beauty of the campus, and my mother responded immediately by assuming the responsibility for campus plantings,” Robert Malott said. “They played a major role in the formation of the campus as it looks today, so I think it’s appropriate that our family help fund the landscape master plan.”

The new gateway at 15th and Iowa streets will include a curved, 70-foot-long stone wall with “The University of Kansas” printed on it. The entrance also will have trees, shrubs and a new brick plaza.

It is part of a $23 million master landscaping plan that is part of the Endowment Association’s $500 million “KU First: Invest in Excellence” campaign. Other improvements include new directional and building signs, plants and pathways.

In Eleanor Malott’s memory, the Malott Plaza and Garden on a KU hillside between Wescoe Hall and Malott Hall was dedicated on May 16, 1999.

Robert Malott graduated from KU with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1948. He worked 40 years with FMC Corp. of Chicago, which manufactures chemicals, specialized machinery and military equipment. He was named president and CEO of the company in 1972 and chairman in 1973 before he retired in 1991.