Letter from Foundation chair
September 23, 2020
Dear Fellow MacMurray Alumni & Friends,
It is always sad and grief comes to us upon the passing of loved ones. Such was the case when 174 year old MacMurray College was put in the position of having to close her doors and no longer be an active institution of higher education. Reaction from Alumni and friends ranged from complete surprise to anger to consternation to sadness.
As this became known, there was a group of individuals, supported by the Board of Trustees, who felt that although MacMurray College would no longer exist, it did not mean that the impact MacMurray had on thousands of individual lives and the influence alumni had on so many communities did not also have to end.
The result is that we are proud to announce the formation of MacMurray Foundation and Alumni Association. Our new non-profit organization was formed with the purpose and mission to honor and continue the legacy of MacMurray College. We have incorporated in the State of Illinois as a Nonprofit organization and received the formal Internal Revenue Service designation as a 501c(3) charitable organization.
We are proud that the College has designated the Foundation as the depository of the College's Archives, memorabilia and artifacts. In this spirit, we have developed a relationship with the City of Jacksonville and their Heritage Cultural Center to have a "MacMurray Wing" in their new Jacksonville Area Museum.
Realizing the fact that so many of us benefited from the generosity of others and scholarships MacMurray was able to provide, one of our purposes is to also continue this legacy through establishing MacMurray Scholars who would be recipients of scholarships related to the legacy of MacMurray. These scholarships would be focused on MacMurray Alumni and descendants of MacMurray Alumni, programs that MacMurray was well known and nationally recognized for and first generation students (which many MacMurray Alumni were).
Many of you supported MacMurray over the years, and some did not financially support the College but still have fond memories and lifelong friends from your time there. We hope and invite you to help us keep the legacy of MacMurray alive for another 174 years!
One of my favorite quotes sums it up for me. "For All That Has Been, Thanks, For All That Will Be, Yes!"
Visit us at www.MacAlumFoundation.org, where you can send your gift to keep Mac alive!
We thank you for helping keep MacMurray College alive!
Stay Safe and All the Best
David Ekin ('77), Chair
MacMurray Foundation and Alumni Association
Ps. MacMurray Foundation and Alumni Association is not a successor organization of MacMurray College and received no funds from the College as it moves toward dissolving. We are thankful that some funds that were raised by the Alumni Board for Alumni activities and the Alumni Board were able to be transferred to the new MacMurray Foundation and Alumni Association, including the restricted Betsy Swigart Fund.