Special Lives Converge: Generous Alumni Meet Students Whose Scholarships They Endowed at Long Island University in Brooklyn on Tuesday, March 11, 2008

- Shared pursuit of the American Dream connects generations at the Brooklyn Campus and the Arnold and Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences -

Brooklyn, N.Y. – Ilana Koyfman has yet to meet the donor behind her college scholarship, but the 21-year-old pharmacy student at Long Island University already is inspired by a connection with her benefactor.

“I think it’s a big honor being recognized by an alumni of Long Island University,” exclaimed Koyfman, a Staten Island resident in the fourth year of a six-year program at the Arnold and Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. With plans to work in a hospital after graduation but aspirations to open her own pharmacy someday, she added, “It gives me the feeling that, if they can do it, then I can do it.”

As a prospective pharmacy owner, Koyfman shares good company with the supporter behind her award, the Jerry Ginsberg ’52 Memorial Endowed Scholarship. That donor is Ian Ginsberg ’85, the owner of C.O. Bigelow, the oldest apothecary in America and perhaps the most distinctive pharmacy in New York City. Purchased by his grandfather in the 1930s, the Greenwich Village store is renowned for its fusion of old-word style, personalized service and modern trends.

Ginsberg is scheduled to meet Koyfman for the first time when they are among about three-dozen pairs of alumni donors and student recipients at a luncheon celebration of the University’s Endowed Scholarship Program. Ginsberg also is slated to be one of the speakers at the gathering of University officials and about 200 other members of the community.

The Endowed Scholarship Luncheon takes place between noon and 2 p.m. on Tuesday, March 11, in Arnold & Marie Schwartz Athletic Center at the Brooklyn Campus, located between Flatbush and DeKalb avenues. For more information, please contact the Brooklyn Campus Public Relations Office at (718) 488-1015.

Established by the University Trustees in 1991, the Endowed Scholarship Program allows generous graduates of the Brooklyn Campus and College of Pharmacy to help students whose pursuit of the American Dream today is not so different from their own years ago.

“The people at Long Island University have given so much to me, and I want the opportunity to give to students in return,” reflected another scholarship donor, Dolores K. Gilmore ’04, who also will address the event on Tuesday. A former dance major, the East Flatbush resident now works for Violator, a recording label and management company for leading hip-hop artists; she also is a donor to the Judith Stuart Dance Fund. “Long Island University taught me how to think outside the box, and be prepared with the information I need to succeed in my life and career,” she explained.

Posted: March 10, 2008

Media contact: Julie Bolcer, (718) 488-1015