The Dorothy Lenihan McQuillan Scholarship for City of Boston Students

Education has long been a cornerstone of Dot Lenihan McQuillan's family. Her father, the principal of a school district in Dorchester, and her mother, a teacher, instilled the importance of education and made many sacrifices so their children could attend such institutions as Emmanuel College, Tufts University and Harvard University. Dot, along with her husband John McQuillan, have carried this legacy on by imparting the same values to their own four children. So, when their son Bill McQuillan began exploring ways to honor his parents, he decided to make a generous gift and establish the Dorothy Lenihan McQuillan '50 Scholarship for City of Boston Students due to his mother's love for Emmanuel College and the realization that such a gift would make a significant impact.

"It's hard not to see that the root of many troubles for some young people is the lack of educational opportunities. Today, high school is not enough to succeed in many fields, so helping a city of Boston student attend college is a very worthy cause for me," said Bill, who is President of Boylston Properties and a Babson College graduate. The scholarship will be given to students from Boston who have completed the College's new R.I.S.E. (Road to Intellectual Success at Emmanuel) program. The R.I.S.E. program is a four-week intensive academic transitional program in the summer which introduces incoming first-year students from diverse backgrounds to the academic and leadership development programs at the College.

Bill is quite familiar with the Fenway neighborhood, both through his mother's connection to Emmanuel and his recent co-development of Trilogy, which includes more than 500 apartments, and street-level shops and eateries on Brookline Avenue and Boylston Street. This development is part of the recent plans to revitalize the West Fenway section of the city. His gift to Emmanuel also acknowledges the gratitude he feels towards his parents for helping him to get some prior real estate developments off the ground when their financial support was so critical - "This gift is out of respect and in honor of my folks, who have helped me without hesitation in the past." Not only has the Fenway neighborhood changed, but so has Emmanuel since Dot was a student commuting from West Roxbury. She recalls her classmate Catherine McCabe Logue '50 driving her to the one building campus, where she took four-to-five classes each day as a mathematics major. She marvels at the College's growth, and attributes its success to the vision of Emmanuel President Sister Janet Eisner, SND. Dot's time at Emmanuel was particularly special because it is when she met her husband, whose sister, Patricia McQuillan Waite, was her classmate. John's sister Katherine McQuillan Canney is also an Emmanuel alumna, in the Class of '54. John, a Boston College graduate, and Dot owned Taylor's Stationery in Needham, where all four of their children were enlisted to work, solidifying a work ethic which, coupled with strong educations, has undoubtedly contributed to professional success today. The Dorothy Lenihan McQuillan Scholarship '50 for City of Boston Students is Bill McQuillan's way of helping give educational opportunities, while honoring his parents who did the same for him.