Merrill Lynch Foundation helps create Tully Scholarship for economics students at Fairfield University | Press Releases

Daniel P. Tully, former chairman of the board of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., Mrs. Grace I. Tully and the Merrill Lynch & Co. Foundation, Inc. have teamed to create a scholarship at Fairfield University to assist students majoring in economics who are in need of financial assistance.

The Rev. Aloysius P. Kelley, S.J., right, University President, thanks Daniel Tully, center, former chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch & Co., and David Komansky, current chairman and CEO, for the creation of the Daniel P. and Grace I. Tully Scholarship which will assist students majoring in economics who are in need of financial assistance.

With a gift of $100,000 from the Tullys and a matching gift of $100,000 from the Merrill Lynch Foundation, the University will establish the Daniel P. and Grace I. Tully Scholarship.

The Rev. Aloysius P. Kelley, S.J., University President, commented that he is grateful to Dan and Grace Tully and told them, "We are truly honored to have the Tully name associated with Fairfield. I know you appreciate how critical financial aid is to students. Having this support is much appreciated."

Fairfield University is providing financial assistance totaling over $12 million this year to more than two-thirds of its 3,000 undergraduate students.

In addition, meeting with David Komansky, the chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch, Fr. Kelley thanked him for recognizing the University's pressing need. The Merrill Lynch Foundation previously established a scholarship at Fairfield with a gift of $100,000 in 1986 to provide support for minority students. Fr. Kelley noted that this scholarship is currently assisting a junior from Bridgeport who earned an enviable grade point average of 3.47 of a possible 4.0 last semester, and a second student who earned a 3.58, works part-time on campus and is president of Umoja, the African-American students' association.

The Merrill Lynch Foundation also assisted the University with gifts of $25,000 for the School of Nursing in 1976 and of $100,000 for the library in 1991. With this latest gift, the Foundation has now supported Fairfield with grants totaling $325,000.

Mr. Tully's ties to Fairfield include serving as a trustee from 1983 to 1995, as chairman of the Fairfield Awards Dinners in 1988 and 1989 to raise funds for multicultural scholarships and delivering the annual Olin Fellow Lecture of the School of Business in 1992.

He joined Merrill Lynch in 1955, became president and CEO in 1985 and later president, chairman and CEO. He has served as vice chairman of both the New York Stock Exchange and the American Stock Exchange and was a founding member of the Ireland Chamber of Commerce in the United States.