SOUTHFIELD — The Henry Ford Trade School Alumni Association has donated $750,000 to create an endowed scholarship fund for undergraduate mechanical engineering students at Lawrence Technological University.
“Through this permanent fund, we will perpetuate and celebrate Henry Ford’s legacy in education and create new generations of highly skilled new engineers who are so essential to sustaining American ingenuity and economic leadership,” says John J. Graf, president of the Henry Ford Trade School Alumni Association.
LTU and the alumni group have a history dating back to LTU’s creation in 1932, when one of the first acts of founder Russell Lawrence was to create a scholarship fund to attract trade school graduates.
In accepting the gift, LTU President Virinder Moudgil noted that numerous Ford Trade School alumni went on to earn Lawrence Tech degrees, including Lewis C. Veraldi, Ford vice president of product and manufacturing engineering, and William D. Innes, who advanced to Ford executive vice president.
The donation is among the top 10 largest gifts ever received by the university and the largest for scholarships from an organization. Interest income from the endowment will provide need-based scholarship assistance to recipients.
