UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — When Steve Phillips reflects on his father’s life, he often marvels at the success John Phillips was able to achieve.
“As I look back, I am consistently amazed at how unlikely his education and the resulting opportunities were,” said Phillips. “And it was all generated by his attendance at Penn State.” Phillips has honored his father’s achievements with a $125,000 gift to establish the John Collingwood Phillips Memorial Scholarship for Penn State Law students. The impact of the gift has been doubled through the now concluded Graduate Scholarship Matching Program, creating a $250,000 endowment that targets its support to students with military backgrounds.
“We are extremely grateful for this generous gift that Mr. Phillips has given to Penn State Law in University Park,” said Rod Schultz, director of development and alumni relations at Penn State Law and the School of International Affairs. “It is a great way to honor his father and, so far, has supported four deserving students who have served our country and are looking to advance their careers.”
Born in 1914, the senior Phillips faced many hardships in his childhood, including losing both his father and brother to the Spanish Flu epidemic. At age 6, his mother sent him to live with an older aunt and uncle. Growing up, he had very limited financial support, but he was somehow able to enroll at Penn State in 1932 and graduated with his degree in 1936. From there, he went on to attend the University of Pennsylvania Law School, graduating and passing the bar in 1939.
He then went on to serve on active duty in the U.S. Navy from 1943 to 1946, as a lieutenant aboard the USS Mason, the first U.S. naval vessel manned by a predominantly African American crew. Upon his return home, Phillips practiced law in Philadelphia, eventually becoming a deputy attorney general for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and then a senior vice president in charge of the Claims Department at what is now Cigna.
The younger Phillips, himself a graduate of The Penn State Dickinson School of Law, felt the best way to honor his father’s incredible life and legacy would be to establish a scholarship fund at Penn State Law.
“My father was able to provide me with a great education and the opportunities that come with it,” said Phillips. “It seemed fitting to make a gift that would honor him by giving those opportunities to more students like him.”
The John Collingwood Phillips Memorial Scholarship is available to qualified Penn State Law students who are veterans of the United States armed forces who have served on active duty and have been discharged under conditions other than dishonorable. Scholarship funds such as these are a critical tool to help Penn State recruit and retain top advanced-degree candidates from across the nation and around the world. The endowment, which will be awarded to two students annually, will also be available to students who have successfully completed any of the U.S. military academies.
“I hope it provides an opportunity for people who have served the country to continue to improve. It’s a way for me to give back to those who have given so much to their country, and provide them a helping hand,” said Phillips. “My education was the greatest gift my father and mother could have given me, and it’s an honor to pass it on.”
Phillips’ gift will advance "A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence," a focused campaign that seeks to elevate Penn State’s position as a leading public university in a world defined by rapid change and global connections. With the support of alumni and friends, “A Greater Penn State” seeks to fulfill the three key imperatives of a twenty-first-century public university: keeping the doors to higher education open to hardworking students regardless of financial well-being; creating transformative experiences that go beyond the classroom; and impacting the world by fueling discovery, innovation, and entrepreneurship. To learn more about “A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence,” visit greaterpennstate.psu.edu.