UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State pre-law alumnus Richard "Dick" Hayes and his wife, Young Mi "Bebe" Hayes, have committed $2.5 million through their future estate to support the Child Study Center at Penn State and to create a scholarship fund in the College of the Liberal Arts.
The Richard and Young Mi Hayes Child Study Center Director's Fund, created as a non-endowed fund in 2021, is slated to receive an additional $1.5 million from the couple’s estate. It provides Evan Pugh University Professor Karen Bierman, the current director of the Child Study Center, and future directors with discretionary funding for the center’s community outreach programs, undergraduate and graduate student training, and research — all of which are dedicated to promoting children’s development and well-being. The Child Study Center is housed in the college’s Department of Psychology.
The remaining $1 million of the Hayes’ future gift will create the Richard A. and Young Mi Hayes Scholarship in the College of the Liberal Arts. When the endowment is realized, its proceeds will be awarded to undergraduate and graduate students in the college who have achieved superior academic records or demonstrate great promise in achieving academic success.
“I have been consistently impressed by the compassion Dick and Bebe have for at-risk children and families, resulting in years of generous contributions to the Child Study Center,” said Clarence Lang, Susan Welch Dean of the College of the Liberal Arts. “Knowing that they have dedicated support from their future estate both to promoting the work of the Child Study Center and to providing access to a Penn State liberal arts education is extremely heartening. I am deeply grateful that the College of the Liberal Arts has such devoted benefactors as Dick and Bebe Hayes.”
Dick Hayes grew up near Buffalo, New York. His father, a first-generation college student, attended Penn State in the 1930s, “during the depths of the Great Depression,” said Hayes, and paid his way through college by delivering newspapers, shoveling snow and serving as a bellhop at a local hotel, among other jobs.
“It was my father’s courage and diligence and his own aspirations that changed the trajectory for our whole family, and ultimately for me,” Dick said.
Despite his father’s insistence that Dick explore other colleges, in addition to Penn State, to find his own unique college experience, Dick found in Penn State exactly what he was looking for — a pre-law major program, an active fraternity where he would meet lifelong friends, a tennis team and, of course, a great football tradition.
“When I was 10 years old, the first college football game I saw in person was Penn State against Syracuse, with [former Cleveland Browns running back] Jim Brown playing against [Baltimore Colts and Penn State great] Lenny Moore,” Dick said. “It wasn’t just about football, but ultimately Penn State was where I felt most comfortable — and obviously it all worked out.”
After graduating from Penn State in 1968, Dick continued his education at New York University School of Law, where he earned a master of laws degree and a juris doctorate. He then enjoyed a 35-year career as a tax attorney with major financial institutions including Arthur Young and Co., Citibank, Security Pacific Bank, First Interstate Bank, Wells Fargo and Allianz of America Corporation, from which he retired as senior vice president and general tax counsel.