 In 1946, having concluded that future aviation leaders would need a broader, more academic education and also out of gratitude for the aid given him by Jesuit priests after a 1927 crash, Parks gave the college named after him to Saint Louis University, a Jesuit institution located across the Mississippi River from Parks’ Cahokia, Illinois campus, where it was renamed the Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology of Saint Louis University.After the war, Parks bought the airport outright and renamed it Parks Metropolitan Airport.He also started two companies, Parks Aircraft Sales and Service for small private airplanes, and Parks Airline, the latter in 1950.