Elizabethtown College recently received a $6.5 million gift from the estate of alumnus Jay A. Izenour ’72, to endow the Jay A. Izenour and Karen L. Izenour Endowed Scholarship Fund. The Izenour gift is the second-largest ever to be received in the College’s history.
“We are sincerely grateful for the generosity of this gift,” Elizabethtown College President Cecilia M. McCormick, J.D. said. “This gift will make an incredible difference for our students, one they will treasure and benefit from throughout their lives. It will serve to witness our institution’s mission to Educate for Service and provide an example of helping others.”
Jay Izenour, a member of the Elizabethtown College Class of 1972, served as a businessman working out of the southcentral Pennsylvania area until he retired. Izenour passed away in December 2020, and his wife, Karen, predeceased him.
“A gift like this is life-changing as it helps to improve affordability for students to attend an exceptional institution like Elizabethtown College,” McCormick said. “We feel very fortunate that the Izenours held the importance of education, the College, and our students in such high regard. We will steward their gift with an abundance of care to bring to fruition the intention of this family.”
The Izenour Fund will be utilized to provide need-based scholarships for full-time, degree-seeking students at Elizabethtown College. Eligible students will be required to maintain a set grade point average in order to receive the scholarship.
Elizabethtown College was gifted an anonymous $8.5 million in 2019 which stands as the largest gift ever received in the College’s history.