Back in January, I posted about my desire to create an academic scholarship as a way to express my gratitude for all of the help and the blessings I have received over the course of my studies and my career.  Several people were kind enough to reach out to offer advice and guidance.  Now, less than six months later, I am overjoyed to announce the creation of the Fannell Family Scholarship at my law school alma mater, St. John’s University School of Law in Queens, NY.

Through a pledge of $50,000, combined with a dollar-for-dollar match from the Brennan Family Scholarship Matching Program once the pledge threshold is met, we will have a $100,000 endowed scholarship at St. John’s Law that will provide one or more partial scholarships each year to an African-American student with a demonstrated interest in labor and employment law.  One of the beauties of the endowed scholarship is that once created, the capital is preserved, providing financial assistance to generations of students in perpetuity.

I am thrilled at the opportunity, through the scholarship, to help others as others have helped me.  My sincere thanks to Philip Maroney, Advancement Officer at St. John’s, for all his help in creating the scholarship, and to Michael A. Simons, Dean of St. John’s Law for his support and encouragement throughout the years.  Most of all, I thank God, and my family.  Through their love and support, my wife and children have propelled me throughout my career.  I could not have done any of it without them, so it’s only fitting that we are doing this together: the Fannell Family Scholarship.  Sounds wonderful in my ears!

Words cannot describe how thankful I am right now.