Pictured Above: Anne Von Rosenstiel passed away in December 2019. An estate gift of $3 million was given to the USF Foundation to benefit students in the College of Marine Science.
Courtesy of The USF Foundation
By Sophie Ojdanic
$3 million has been gifted to the USF Foundation to benefit students in the College of Marine Science.
The estate gift, from longtime donor Anne Von Rosenstiel, will be divided between two existing endowments from Von Rosenstiel and her husband, Werner Von Rosenstiel.
This means the gift will be put into two separate investment pools to expand the original donation.
Anne Von Rosenstiel passed away in December 2019, 11 years after Werner’s passing in 2008.
President Steve Currall said, in a press release from the university, that the Von Rosenstiel’s contributions are “making a remarkable impact on our ability to support students with a passion to explore and advance the field of marine science.”
Longtime friend of the Von Rosenstiels and founding dean of the College of Marine Science, Peter Betzer called Anne Von Rosenstiel “one of the most intelligent, talented, generous and self-effacing people I have ever known.”
In an interview with The Crow’s Nest, Betzer said the university was “lucky as heck” to have worked with the Von Rosenstiels.
The Von Rosenstiels have established both a fellowship and an innovation fund in the marine science college, which have benefited over 80 graduate students since their formation in 1993.
“The best manifestation of the Von Rosenstiel legacy is the success of our students who have benefited tremendously from their generosity,” College of Marine Science Dean Tom Frazer said in an email to The Crow’s Nest. “Fellowships like the one supported by the Von Rosenstiels help us remove many of the financial barriers associated with pursuing graduate education and level the playing field regardless of a student’s socioeconomic status or background.”
Betzer emphasized the Von Rosenstiels’ interest in the college, recalling days that the Von Rosenstiels would visit and ask students questions about the projects they were working on.
“Neither of them were scientists,” Betzer said. “But their questions were really penetrating.”
The Von Rosenstiels’ investments will go toward “more generous fellowships and will increase the potential of national funding opportunities for innovative research projects,” according to the press release.
According to Betzer, $1.2 million will go towards the Von Rosenstiel fellowship while the other $1.8 million will be used for the college’s Innovation fund.
Frazer said that gifts from the Von Rosenstiels and others “allow us to continue to sharpen our competitive edge and continue to attract top-notch graduate students to our program without having to rely on more traditional funding streams from state and federal sources.”
The estate gift also went toward the college’s Bridge to the Doctorate Endowed Graduate Fellowship, which focuses on recruitment and mentorship of under-represented minority students, and the university’s annual Oceanography Camp for Girls.
“The College of Marine Science would not be as firmly planted on the global ocean research stage without the consistent, and consistently generous, support of the Von Rosenstiel family through the years,” Frazer said. “Their legacy will live on in the success of our students who will go on to lead ocean science research on a global stage and ensure the health of our blue planet.”
