The Difference Donors Make

Those who give to our University aren’t only donating to an institution; they’re investing in individuals and the future. Like the benefactors featured here, our donors give for personal reasons: to give back to the institution that was instrumental in their success, to honor loved ones and professional associates, or for the sheer joy of giving. Through their generosity—and hundreds of others who provide support on a regular basis — University of the Sciences is strengthened and able to help thousands of students reach their professional goals and aspirations.

Del Payne Scholarship

To commemorate his years of service on the board of trustees and his 80th birthday, the University has established the Delbert S. Payne, HonDSc, Scholarship. Payne has served as chairman of the board since 2000, helping to steer the historic growth and development of the University. With the support of longtime friend and former Rohm & Haas colleague John Haas, the scholarship was announced at the May 2010 board meeting. An initial major contribution from Haas, who has been friends with Payne for over 40 years, has been bolstered by additional donations from other individuals. At Payne’s request, the scholarship, for which funds now exceed $150,000, will be awarded to one African-American student at the University each year.

Why I Give

The Wetherill family name is synonymous with Philadelphia College of Pharmacy. Four of the 68 apothecaries who founded PCP in 1821 were Wetherills, including the first chairman of the board Samuel Price Wetherill. Col. Wetherill, a former board member himself, and his son Samuel Rogers Wetherill, IV, P’97 continue that long lineage. Giving back is important to Col. Wetherill: “The University has given me a lot. It has helped to advance my career and gave me a real good start in life. I think it is time for me to give back. I want students to be able to advance their education and advance the field of pharmacy. I’m very proud of the University.”

“As you get older, and go through different changes, you find out what you are grateful for,” said Sandy. “Mark and I believe that everything we have today is because of our parents, our family, and our education.” The Szilagyis own two independent pharmacies with lifelong friends, Henry P’74 and Patty P’76 Katra. The couples, whose friendships started as fraternity brothers and sorority sisters, have been in business together for 28 years. They have passed along their passion for pharmacy to their children: Mark Szilagyi PharmD’06 and Jennifer Szilagyi PharmD’08 and Nicholas Katra PharmD’04 and Kristin Katra PharmD’10. “Speaking for Mark, Patty and Henry, we are very grateful for the degrees that we got,” Sandy said.

 

W. W. Smith Charitable Trust Luncheon

Student recipients of scholarships from the W. W. Smith Charitable Trust of West Conshohocken gathered for a luncheon on March 2, 2010. The grant from the trust provides scholarships to full-time undergraduate students from the Delaware Valley who are in financial need and good academic standing. The W. W. Smith Charitable Trust has been funding Smith Scholars at the University for 30 years with grants over $1.5 million. On hand to meet the students were Michelle Montgomery, W. W. Smith Charitable Trust scholarship grant administrator (center with scarf), and Louise A. Havens, medical grant administrator (center in grey).

Buchalter Scholarship—Providing for a Need

Anyone who has had an ultrasound has probably been touched by the work of Martin Buchalter P’55. Buchalter was a medical ultrasound pioneer, a former member of USciences’ board, and president and chief executive officer of Parker Laboratories (Fairfield, New Jersey) when he passed away in 2008.

“He loved pharmacy, and he really liked being a pharmacist,” said his widow Carol Buchalter, who remains vice president of marketing at Parker. “He enjoyed chemistry, and I guess that is why he was successful in what he did.”

Before his passing, they established the Martin Buchalter Scholarship Fund to aid pharmacy students.

“When our children were growing up, we were in a position where we made too much money for need-based scholarships and not enough to make sending our kids to college easy,” Carol said. “Martin wanted to ease the way for someone else. His feeling was very strongly that he did not want any monies put into the scholarship to be need-based but rather ability-based.”

The Buchalter scholarship was established in 2006, and Carol has continued to add to it for the benefit of pharmacy students.

“He was very proud to have been a graduate,” Carol said. “He had a nice measure of success in his life, and he attributed a lot of that to the confidence he gained as being a part of the school. He wanted to give something back.”

Leonard S. Jacob

Leonard S. Jacob BI’70, HonDSc’08, MD, PhD, chairman for Life Science Advisors and current member of the board of trustees, poses with the most recent beneficiaries of scholarships that he has founded: Tanya Anne Coty BI’10, recipient of the Sylvia Averbach Memorial Scholarship, and Minh Kim Vong BI’10, recipient of the Dr. Francis M. White Scholarship.

Joshua Manuel Rodriguez Memorial Scholarship—Keeping a Memory Alive

Jennifer Colon P’00 grew up the daughter of a Puerto Rican father and a Russian mother. Her parents didn’t have much money. But what they did have was a strong work ethic and a desire to give their children a better life by sending them to college.

“My dream was to go to University of the Sciences,” said Jennifer. “It was always my number one choice.”

Fortunately, a PREP scholarship, which paid half her studies, enabled her to attend. The PREP scholarship program awards scholarships to lower-income students, mostly minorities. “I wouldn’t have been able to go to the University without the scholarship,” Jennifer explained.

Jennifer works at Virtua Health System, in Mount Holly, New Jersey, as a staff pharmacist. She experienced personal tragedy when her infant son, Joshua, died in 2006.

Wanting to give back to the University and honor her son, Jennifer found a way to do both by establishing the Joshua Manuel Rodriguez Memorial Scholarship to support a pharmacy PREP student of Hispanic descent in good academic standing and in financial need.

Jennifer is now completing the funding for the scholarship, which she hopes will help other students in the same way the PREP scholarship helped her.

 

Comments

[Belstaff Outlet Online]

Love those! I enjoy following your posts on facebook and rss!