Log In


Reset Password
News Education Local News Nation & World New Mexico

Former newspaperman endows scholarship with Fort Lewis College

Walter Dear, a former newspaper owner and columnist for The Durango Herald, has endowed a new scholarship with the Fort Lewis College Foundation.

It will be an unrestricted scholarship, meaning it can be awarded for financial need or academic performance, said Mark Jastorff, the college’s vice president for advancement.

The Walter Dear Scholarship is one of 280 scholarships managed by the foundation, Jastorff said.

“People approach us sometimes, and sometimes we know of someone with a passion for supporting a certain cause,” Jastorff said. “There are no two alike.”

A minimum of $25,000 is required to endow a scholarship, and the interest from its investment supports the goals of the scholarship established by its patron, Jastorff said.

“When you live in a community, you have to give back,” Dear said by telephone. “Where would we be without the college?”

The new scholarship is not the first for Dear.

He donated $1.25 million toward an endowed chair at the University of Colorado for Dr. Anthony Elias, associate director of the CU cancer center, who attended his late wife, Martha, when she was battling breast cancer.

Dear didn’t stop there. He joined Elias in a fundraiser to increase the endowed amount to $2 million.

Dear is a fourth-generation newspaperman who owned the Henderson Gleaner, a six-day newspaper in Henderson, Kentucky, for 30 years.

Nonendowed scholarships are simply an amount donated annually for a specific purpose.

Fort Lewis College has more than doubled, to $8 million, the amount it gives in scholarships in the past five years, a release said.

“But a college education still represents a major financial investment for many students and families,” the release said. “That is why supporters like Walter Dear are so crucial for students attending Fort Lewis College.”

daler@durangoherald.com



Reader Comments