Temple trustees pledge to donate more than $1 million to scholarship fund in the name of JoAnne Epps

One thing that Phil Richards liked the most about the late JoAnne A. Epps, former president of Temple University, was her ability to unify people with vastly varying views.

“She could take different opinions and meld them together and have everybody walking out of the room feeling like they won,” said Richards, vice chair of Temple’s board of trustees and a 1962 Temple alumnus. “That’s a special skill.”

He wanted to make sure that Epps — who died unexpectedly in September 2023 while serving as Temple’s acting president — and her talents were never forgotten. Richards told the board he was donating $500,000 to an undergraduate scholarship fund in Epps’ name and asked his other board colleagues to contribute.

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“A lot of them said, ‘Count me in,’” Richards said. The board collectively has pledged over $1 million to the fund, which currently stands at $912,000.

“No insignificant gift was made,” said Richards, who has been on the board for 14 years and is the executive chairman and founder of North Star Research Group, a financial planning firm based in Minneapolis.

Mitchell L. Morgan, Temple board chair and founder and chairman of Morgan Properties, donated $105,000.

“I loved, loved, loved JoAnne Epps,” Morgan said.

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Richards, who lives in Arizona and Florida, said he didn’t even have to call Jane Scaccetti, founding partner and CEO of Drucker & Scaccetti, an accounting firm that joined Armanino in 2022.

She called him.

“She immediately stepped up and said I’m going to give this much this year and this much next year,” Richards said.

Even emeritus trustees, including former board chair Patrick O’Connor, contributed, Richards said.

The willingness of the board to contribute really is a reflection of Epps.

“We have a lot of Joanne admirers,” he said. “When she passed, that was more significant and painful than the outside world knew.”

» READ MORE: JoAnne Epps, named Temple’s acting president, says she can ‘calm waters’

Epps stepped into the acting president’s role in April 2023 after Jason Wingard resigned less than two years into his tenure. She has been credited with restoring calm, smooth operations, and unity to the university after a tumultuous year that saw the resignation of a president, a graduate student worker strike, and the shooting death of a Temple police officer while on duty.

A teacher, lawyer, administrator, and leader, Epps, a Cheltenham native, served Temple for nearly 40 years, starting as a law school professor, then dean, then provost. At a campus vigil following her death, those who knew her spoke of her keen financial stewardship, her caring and compassion, and her outspoken advocacy for equity and justice.

She died after falling ill on stage at a ceremony in memory of historian and author Charles L. Blockson, who was the curator emeritus of the Blockson Afro-American Collection. The board posthumously removed the “acting” from her title, giving her a place in the university’s history as one of its presidents, with her photo now hung in the board room with all other prior presidents.

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The scholarship is meant to go to undergraduate students who exhibit Epps’ values. Incoming or current students with financial need are eligible; students who have engaged in service, leadership and social justice work in their community or are pursuing careers aimed toward the public good are preferred, the school said.

Board members said they hope her legacy is carried on through students who receive her scholarship. One student got the scholarship this year, Temple said. Amounts will vary depending on how much income the fund earns.

Donations can be made to the undergraduate scholarship fund, as well as a separate scholarship fund for law school students.

“It’s a grand remembrance of a woman who sadly we lost, who bled Temple University,” Richards said. “She had cherry in her veins.”