Former Meridian Community College president emeritus and community leader Bill Scaggs was remembered Monday when the college added his name to a campus building.

“It’s fitting that we remember the man who, for so many years, was the heartbeat of this campus by attaching his name to this building,” MCC President Tom Huebner said as Ivy-Scaggs Hall was renamed. “Thank you, Dr. Scaggs for investing your life in this place and for so many others.”

The new name pays tribute to the founding father of MCC, H.M. Ivy, and the first president, Scaggs, who died last July. 

Scaggs worked at MCC for 35 years, serving first as registrar and dean before being named president in 1968. He held that post for the next 30 years before being named president emeritus.

In the early 1960s, he served as chair of the strategic planning committee of the Meridian Industrial Foundation, helping secure the location of the Lockheed Martin facility. He also served as co-convener of the local Head Start Advisory Committee and later co-founded the Meridian Freedom Project, an organization aimed at developing young leaders.

He was also president of the Mississippi Association of Junior Colleges, the Mississippi Association of Colleges, the Lauderdale County Development Authority, and the Rotary Club.

“He was a wonderful, patient and kind man and he had a big vision for Meridian, Lauderdale county and for this college,” Huebner told the crowd Monday. “He was fundamentally what we are as an institution.” 

Skip Scaggs, the son of Dr. Scaggs, was on hand for the ceremony. 

“This naming reflects not just the lifelong work of our father, but also of our mom,” he said. “He dedicated his entire life to education.” 

Meridian Freedom Project executive director Adrian Cross remembered Scaggs for his broad impact on the community.

 “It feels really good to be part of this celebration of his life, because he worked so hard to get so much accomplished at the college and in the community as a whole,” Cross said.