A player on the Rutgers men's basketball team during the program's glory years in the early 1970s, Michael MacDonald has lived by a simple philosophy when it comes to giving back to his alma mater.

"I went to Rutgers and as much as they've taken a hit a little for their basketball of late, I was there for the best period of basketball. I have a great love for the school,'' he said. "If I didn't go there I wouldn't be where I am in my life today. So I look at it as it's important to contribute.''

He lived by that credo during his three decades in management at the Xerox Corp., donating dozens of copiers to Rutgers while serving on the university's Board of Trustees in the 1990s.

"I've always come from that kind of approach,'' he said.

These days, MacDonald serves as chairman of Medifast Inc., a provider of clinically proven weight-loss and healthy living products based in Owings Mills, Md. As the company was transitioning its focus from a purely weight loss and maintenance program to brand that emphasizes sports nutrition, MacDonald looked to work with a Big Ten school to assist in the promotion of a new line of nutritional bars and shakes.

Rutgers, he said, was the logical choice.

"As we started moving to a healthy-living approach that's geared towards athletes and sports nutrition, we said, 'Why don't we try to partner with somebody like Rutgers, and we could donate money back to the school and we could work with their athletes and come up with a really good product,'' said MacDonald, who ranks among Rutgers' notable alumni CEOs and business leaders. "So we met with the Rutgers athletic department, met with all their trainers and our terrific research team developed a Dual Fuel product line that will consist of a chocolate shake, a vanilla shake, a chocolate bar, a vanilla bar, a peanut butter bar and a strawberry bar to help deliver optimal performance. We developed a whole series of products under a Rutgers brand, and we'll donate 10 percent of the money back to the university for the athletic department.''

The products will be sold at concession stands at High Point Solution Stadium for football games and at the Rutgers Athletic Center for all events, and also online at Rutgers.DualFuelNutrition.com.

A portion of the profits, Rutgers Athletics Director Pat Hobbs said last month, will go to the R Fund to benefit the university's student-athletes.

"This partnership,'' Hobbs said, "provides us additional monetary resources to support our 24 athletic programs in the pursuit of Big Ten Conference championships.''

MacDonald played basketball at Rutgers from 1971-75, competing for the Scarlet Knights in the '74 NIT and '75 NCAA Tournament with current head coach Eddie Jordan. MacDonald went on to work at Iona College as a graduate assistant under the late Jim Valvano, a former Rutgers basketball player and legendary basketball coach, and that bond led him to spending two decades on the board of The V Foundation for Cancer Research.

"Having played basketball for Rutgers and developed a friendship with Jim Valvano, we wanted to use the Jimmy V brand with the bars and then give 10 percent of any of the sales over the Internet towards cancer research,'' MacDonald said. "Rutgers and The Jimmy V Foundation are two institutions that I've been very close to over the years and they have great brands, and this partnership could create a positive impact.''

Keith Sargeant may be reached at ksargeant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KSargeantNJ. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.