Meet the Ragan’s: a business-minded family that has stuck together through the years.
Several generations of the family has worked at the family’s business, Joe Ragan’s Coffee, which Joe Ragan III’s father started in 1966. In addition to the tradition of working at the family business, the Ragan family has also sent six family members to George Mason University. Five out of those six went on to earn business degrees.
It all began with Richard Cummings, a US Army veteran, graduated from Mason in 1987 with a BS in business administration, leading to a 30 year career in the federal government. Joe Ragan III, Cummings nephew, graduated in 1991 with an MS in Accounting. His son Joe Ragan IV followed with an MBA degree in 2007 and daughter Julia earned both her bachelor’s and master’s in accounting from Mason in 2009 and 2010, respectively. Ragan III’s sister, Donna Lang, earned two graduate degrees from Mason, a master’s degree in new professional studies in 2007 and a master’s degree in education leadership in 2013. Meanwhile, his wife, Jennifer, graduated in May 2015 with her Executive MBA.
“Watching my children graduate was very special and last month. Jennifer graduated with her EMBA. She worked hard and got a great deal out of the program. I’m sure she will finish out her career successfully based on the education she received at Mason. I had some influence on their decision to attend Mason, but ultimately they chose on their own,” Ragan III said in an article on the school’s website. “The business school was flexible in its offerings and high quality in its curriculum.”
Ragan III was recently honored with the School of Business Distinguished Alumni Award, which recognizes one School of Business alumnus each year who has demonstrated a high caliber of professional achievement in the for-profit, not-for-profit, or public sectors.
The family is also working to create a new scholarship fund for the School of Business to support students in their journey to develop the skills that my children found when attending the university.
“This scholarship will be in honor of my grandson Joseph Ragan IV who received his MBA from George Mason and passed away in 2010 due to complications from surgery,” Ragan II said. “I would like to invite others to participate in the scholarship fund which we are creating.”