Jeff and Mary Helen Holzschuh stood in advance of a crowd at Niagara College on Wednesday as a thriving pair who gave their alma mater $10 million – 1 of the most significant gifts in the university’s 166-12 months history, earning their identify on its business school.
But when it arrived time to talk, Jeff Holzschuh choked up imagining of the younger few they were 40 yrs in the past, whose scholarships to attend Niagara designed his profession in finance and hers in nursing probable.
“We’ve been really privileged to be able to give back,” Holzschuh stated by means of tears as the university dedicated the newly christened Holzschuh Higher education of Business enterprise Administration. “Our intention has a few aims, but variety just one is supplying a whole bunch of learners the ability to come right here like we did, and they in all probability require some support.”
Aside from offering the business university a title, their reward will present five organization and five nursing scholarships just about every calendar year, stated Niagara University President Rev. James Maher.
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“The idea is to recruit learners who are academically attuned and have need,” Maher stated. “So this will be supporting doing work bad and middle course learners have the possibility to analyze below.”
Niagara College unveils a indication renaming its School of Business Administration as the Holzschuh College of Company Administration next a reward by Jeff and Mary Helen Holzschuh who have pledged a present of $10 million, the premier alumni donation in the history of the college, Wednesday, Might 4, 2022. University President Father James Maher, speaks, on remaining and Jeff and Mary Helen Holzschuh on suitable.
Sharon Cantillon
A portion of the present also will enable support the men’s and women’s basketball groups, because Jeff Holzschuh earned his business diploma on a basketball scholarship.
And the couple’s 3rd aim, he claimed, “is we hope to encourage a bunch of individuals to assist us and continue to keep this heading for the upcoming 50 or 100 years.”
Mark Frascatore, dean of the organization school, claimed the present arrives immediately after a handful of of a long time of strife. 4 decades back, New York condition adopted the Excelsior Scholarship that would make it attainable for learners to attend SUNY colleges tuition-totally free, which posed big recruiting challenges for personal faculties these types of as Niagara, he said.
The university was building strides in recruiting when the pandemic hit in 2019, forcing schools to change courses on-line. In July 2021, as points had been easing up, significant rain prompted extreme flooding that destroyed Bisgrove Hall, the actual physical house of the company college, demanding key repairs.
“Today, applications and deposits for tumble 2022 are up, portending a excellent course of incoming freshmen,” Frascatore mentioned, “And with this generous reward from the Holzschuhs, we once again have a feeling of optimism, of guarantee and new beginnings.”
Maher explained Jeff and Mary Helen Holzschuh as “students from serious, humble people who labored really hard to improve their lives.”
Jeffrey Holzschuh, a Rochester native, claimed the university’s tiny size and sense of group authorized him to satisfy its trustees, which include the late Dick Chapdelaine, who served him get his very first job on Wall Road at Morgan Stanley. Just about 39 yrs afterwards, he is even now with the agency as chair of its institutional securities division. “That worked out pretty well,” he deadpanned.
The former Mary Helen Mahoney acquired her nursing diploma at Niagara and went on to do the job as a nurse at Solid Memorial Healthcare facility in Rochester and Memorial Sloan Kettering Most cancers Centre ahead of taking time to raise a relatives in their dwelling of Greenwich, Conn.
The Holzschuhs have been robust supporters of their alma mater – each ended up awarded Niagara’s Medial of Honor in 2017 for their good results and service – and give cash to several triggers. But they have in no way built a reward of this size right up until now, Jeff Holzschuh mentioned. It is the greatest alumni present in Niagara heritage and, with their earlier donations, make the pair the university’s greatest benefactors.
Holzschuh reported he and his wife want to pay back it forward basically due to the fact they are grateful. The indicator that the college unveiled Wednesday consists of a image of them and a quotation from St. Vincent DePaul: “We really should devote as substantially time in thanking God for his rewards as we do in inquiring Him for them,” it stated.
Holzschuh also joked about their identify (pronounced “Hole-shoe”) now gracing the organization university.
“I apologize for the reality that the staff, college and absolutely everyone else is heading to have to study how to spell it” he mentioned.
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