The scholarship, which will award its first recipient with $1,000 this year, was established in honor of the late Don Maurer, former president and chief executive officer of McKinney & Silver advertising agency in Raleigh.
After Maurer died unexpectedly in a single-car accident Oct. 20 at the age of 47, family members and friends gathered to create a fund of $20,000 to be awarded to students interested in pursuing a career in advertising.
The scholarship fund, which was initially established by Maurer's family, expanded when articles in Advertising Age, Adweek, The New York Times and The (Raleigh) News & Observer mentioned the fund and encouraged individuals and businesses that had worked with Maurer to make donations.
But after amassing the $20,000, Maurer's family didn't immediately know which institution would be the best recipient of the scholarship fund.
After a meeting including family members and others involved in creating the fund, UNC's journalism school was chosen, even though Maurer had no personal connection to the University.
McKinney & Silver, which examined potential university recipients with the family, has had a long-standing relationship with the journalism school through internships, said Janet Northen, McKinney & Silver's senior vice president and director of communications.
Robert Emanuel, an attorney who worked to establish the scholarship fund, contacted the school with the proposition of creating the scholarship fund and worked with school officials to make that proposition a reality.
"We were impressed with the (journalism) school and its prestigious faculty and prestigious alumni," he said.
Many of Maurer's former colleagues found the scholarship to be an appropriate remembrance of Maurer and said it was something that he would have appreciated.
