The late Nancy Hallauer Johnson bequeathed $450,000 to the Monroe Community College (MCC) Foundation to establish the Arnold L. Johnson Endowed Scholarship Fund for MCC intercollegiate basketball players. Proceeds from a charitable remainder trust, which names both MCC and the Genesee Country Museum as beneficiaries, will be used in the future to expand the fund.
The planned gift was designed to honor her late husband, Arnold L. Johnson, a former member of the Rochester Royals basketball team that was affiliated with the National Basketball Association (NBA). Johnson played nine seasons with the Royals, which won three NBA Western Division championships and the 1951 NBA title over the New York Knicks. Johnson was respected for his athletic abilities and support of education.
"Arnie led his life the same way he played basketball: with all his heart," said MCC Athletics Director Bruce "Murph" Shapiro. "He was one of the best that ever played for the Rochester Royals. The scholarship is a wonderful way to remember his enthusiasm for basketball and family's desire to support MCC students."
"Nancy Johnson was quiet and giving," said MCC Foundation President Brenda Babitz. "She loved MCC and valued education as did her husband and father."
It was Johnson's father, Carl S. Hallauer, former president and chair of Bausch & Lomb, who made the initial calls in 1960 to then Monroe County Manager Gordon Howe and New York Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller to encourage the creation of a community college in Monroe County. Hallauer is also remembered as a founding trustee of MCC. His daughter's planned gift is the largest gift made to the College on behalf of the Hallauer-Johnson family and continues the family's long history of generosity within the Greater Rochester community.
Rosanna Condello
College and Community Relations
03/27/2003 |