Advancing the Benitz Vision
In April 1991, the Washington State Board of Regents approved naming the new Tri-Cities branch campus library in honor of Max Benitz, the late state senator from Prosser. James Cochran, Founding Campus Dean, had suggested naming the library in memory of Senator Benitz in recognition of the key role the senator had played in creating branch campus legislation.
The Max E. Benitz Memorial Library was dedicated in September 1991, at the opening ceremonies for the new West Building. The lower northwest wing of the West Building, behind the Atrium, was devoted to library space. A bronze plaque was placed beside the library doors:
For his enthusiastic support of higher education and his extraordinary devotion to serving the citizens of the Columbia Basin region.
Max Benitz served as a state legislator for twenty-one years -- three
terms as a representative and four as a senator. Although his own education ended at high
school graduation, Max Benitz championed higher education, especially in the Tri-Cities.
Dean Cochran said further of Senator Benitz:
"Max will be remembered as ‘the people’s legislator, who kept making things happen for the general public. …And since WSU as a land grant institution is known as ‘the people’s university,’ what better match could be made? His legacy now extends educational opportunity to a broad swath of students who use our Library."
In June 1997, the Benitz Library was moved to the newly completed Consolidated Information Center to be merged with the Hanford Technical Library and the U.S. Department of Energy Public Reading Room to form the Consolidated Libraries. The Benitz Library dedicatory plaque was likewise moved to the Consolidated Libraries and placed on a wall near the entrance devoted to Senator Benitz.