Anisfield-Meyers Family Scholarship

In 2006, Ina Anisfield-Meyers decided to search the Internet for other people with the name Anisfield. She found a press release from Ramapo College, announcing a large donation from Richard and Millicent Anisfield to name and strengthen the business school. Richard’s name sparked a memory from 1939, when she and her family visited relatives in Paterson, N.J.

?My father and his father went off to play golf and our mothers went shopping and Richard, who was my age, went to go play with his friends,? Ms. Meyers recalled. ?I spent the whole day in this big house all by myself.? Ms. Meyers contacted Mr. Anisfield, believing him to be her only living family member. She spoke with Mr. Anisfield’s wife, Millicent.

?We just had a delightful time on the phone,? says Ms. Anisfield. ?She was so grateful to have found some family.? When Ms. Meyers began planning her estate, she sought the Anisfields’ advice, since she had no other living relatives and had already given to her chosen charities.

?I learned a lot about Ramapo from Richard and Millicent; they had given so much of themselves to the College, so I became very interested,? Ms. Meyers said. She decided to leave a bequest to Ramapo. Ms. Meyers passed away in 2009 at the age of 87 and part of her $1.7 million bequest was used to create this endowed scholarship. The Anisfield-Meyers Family Scholarship is intended for upperclassmen in the Anisfield School of Business who have demonstrated academic achievement and have financial need. She also established Ramapo?s first Endowed Faculty chair in honor of her son, Steven.