LIT to celebrate $1 million donation with check presentation on January 13
1/10/2020
BEAUMONT – Dr. Lonnie L. Howard and the Executive Team at Lamar Institute of Technology will celebrate a $1 million donation from the Gale Foundation with check presentation at 12:30 p.m. on Monday, January 13 during the Institute’s 2020 Professional Development Day. This unprecedented gesture of generosity to the Rebecca & Edwin Gale Scholarship Endowment is the largest single monetary donation in LIT’s history.
Rebecca “Becky” Speed Gale, a former Beaumont resident and philanthropist, who recently passed away at her home in Alabama at the age of 80, was an educator. She and her late husband Edwin established the Gale Foundation and it was her wish to dissolve the Foundation upon her passing. The Gale Foundation funded educational efforts, medical research, Jewish life, and programs to assist the needy.
The LIT Foundation will disperse $50,000 annually from the Rebecca & Edwin Gale Scholarship Endowment for scholarships to full time, part time and high school dual enrollment students.
Dr. Howard expressed gratitude, saying that this endowment “marks a huge milestone in scholarship development at LIT. The funds will make the ‘American Dream’ more attainable by increasing student access, success and reducing their debt.”
Dr. Howard and LIT appreciate the role that longtime supporter and LIT Foundation Board member, Hoke Peacock, played in attracting LIT to the attention of the trustees of the Gale Foundation over several years and his efforts in finalizing the terms of the endowment.
