Volume 67, Issue 3  

Scheiber’s $36 Million Bequest
Finally Released to Yeshiva Students
by Kevin Cyrulnik
 

After several years of delay, the Yeshiva administration has begun to award the $22 million bequeathed by Anne Scheiber to Yeshiva in 1995 to various Stern College students.  Yeshiva was unable to establish the Anne Scheiber Scholarship and Loan Fund and distribute the money granted to them in Scheiber's will until the resolution of extended probate proceedings. As of now, the gift has matured from its original $22 to $36 million.

According to Dr. Karen Bacon, Dean of Stern College for Women, the money left to Yeshiva by the 101-year-old Anne Scheiber at the time of her death had been contested by a number of her family members.  Her family, completely left out of the will, argued that Scheiber had not been of sound mind when the will had been drawn up; she had absolutely no attachment to or affiliation with Yeshiva University throughout her life and, therefore, would not have bequeathed any of her money – certainly not all of it – to the institution.

After years of a drawn-out trial, the court has determined that Yeshiva is entitled to the money bequeathed by Scheiber, which has since virtually doubled in sum due to shrewd investments throughout the proceedings.  Although the majority of the endowment money for scholarships will not be awarded until next year, Yael Boyarsky and Deena Blanchard, two Stern College graduates who fit the criteria set forth by Scheiber, have received scholarship money this year, their first in Albert Einstein College of Medicine,

Although the will details Scheiber's desire to determine which students should receive money, many specifics had to be interpreted.  Scheiber had clearly expressed her wishes that the fund be established almost exclusively for women attending Stern College or Albert Einstein College of Medicine.  Moreover, she wished to help those females "who have indicated their desire to assist in the development of humanity, and alleviate pain and suffering.”  Yeshiva’s male students are also eligible for a scholarship, but only in the event that no female student fits the criteria, or if there remains an excess of money after all qualified women had received scholarships.

Yeshiva has placed Dr. Morton Lowengrub, Vice President for Academic Affairs, in charge of deciphering Sheiber’s intentions about the specifics of the endowment.  These specifics include details of who is eligible for scholarship and how much money each student will subsequently receive.

The first area Lowengrub tackled was the maximum amount allowed per scholarship recipient.  Scheiber had stipulated that “no single scholarship or loan to any one student shall exceed the sum of $3,000.”  Dean Bacon, along with the rest of the Yeshiva administration, have agreed that “while $3,000 seemed appropriate back then, it was probably close to full tuition at that time.” Thus, she said, the administration decided that the gift “will be amended to [jive with] current times and costs.”  They have therefore raised the maximum allowed per student, with some even being eligible to receive full tuition scholarships.

It seems as though the impetus for Scheiber selecting Yeshiva, and specifically SCW, to benefit from her estate was due to the harassment and abuse she had experienced throughout her professional and personal life.  She blamed her unfair treatment on the fact that she was a Jewish woman.  She therefore wanted “to ensure that Jewish women are afforded educational and professional opportunities she felt she could not avail herself of as a Jew and as a woman during the mid-20th century,” speculated Yeshiva President Dr. Norman Lamm.  “She chose the premier place to actualize [that] intention.”

Bacon spoke for the entire Yeshiva community when she described the endowment as a “truly unusual and remarkable opportunity for [scores of] prospective and current Yeshiva students.  A lot of people will benefit from this money.” 

As a basic outline, the criteria for the “Anne Scheiber Scholarship Fund and Anne Scheiber Loan Fund” will be the demonstration of financial need, academic achievement, and the intention on the part of the recipient to eventually study medicine or some other “helping profession.”

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