Family's $1 Million Endowment Helps With UNCW Union
Posted on: Friday, 28 March 2008, 12:00 CDT
By Vicky Eckenrode, Star-News, Wilmington, N.C.
Mar. 28--The University of North Carolina Wilmington will receive a $1 million endowment from a local family with a long history with the school and helping its students.
Herb and Sylvia Fisher and their three children are making the gift for the university's newly renovated student union, which will be named the Fisher University Union, UNCW officials announced Thursday.
The children are Pam Fisher Snyder and UNCW alumni Diana Fisher Abbott and Carlton Fisher, who also serves as vice chairman of the UNCW Foundation Board that helps the school with fund raising.
Carolyn Farley, executive director for campus life, said the school and family reached the endowment agreement earlier this month.
She said interest earned from investing the $1 million will help fund operations and student programs at the union.
The services are primarily funded through student fees, so the Fishers' gift will help offset some of those costs, Farley said.
"It really is a gift to all students," she said.
University officials held a grand re-opening Thursday for the union building, which has undergone extensive renovations and been closed since July of 2006.
The campus building houses several university offices, such as the career center, dean of students and Upperman African American Cultural Center. The union also includes dining areas, a convenience store and open seating areas for students in a former courtyard that was enclosed as part of the renovation.
The dining area has various meal stations. One of the options is the Varsity Grill, an homage to the Varsity that Herb Fisher opened in 1953 a block from Wilmington College's former location downtown on Market Street.
Herb and Sylvia both attended Wilmington College, UNCW's former name before the school joined the UNC system.
For 20 years, Herb ran the Varsity, a grill, soda shop and pharmacy that became a social spot for students and sports teams. He closed the Varsity in the 1970s to manage Coastal Realty.
Fisher has no business ties to the Varsity Grill operation being resurrected in the new student union, but the couple gave several photos and mementos from the original Varsity to display in a retro dining area section of the union.
The Fishers have given to the school in the past.
The Fishers created a scholarship for undergraduate students in the Watson School of Education several years ago, and contributed money last year to help with renovations to a fieldhouse for the school's baseball team.
In 2006, they created a $2 million endowment to help cover operation expenses at UNCW's student center, which also was named for the couple.
That money also is used to help fund programs for students and supplement salaries for student workers, UNCW spokeswoman Dana Fischetti said.
The student center and union that the Fishers have helped support sit close to each other on campus.
"We wanted to do something to benefit all of the students," Herb Fisher said in a statement.
"The union is connected to the Fisher Student Center, so it just made sense for us to support it too."
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Source: Morning Star
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