Release Date: January 19, 2007
Cobb business leader endows scholarship in honor of his mother
Contact: Cheryl Anderson Brown, Assistant Director of Public Relations, 770-499-3417 or cbrown@kennesaw.edu
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(From left) Cynthia Feldberg, Bob Feldberg, Dan Papp, Wesley Wicker, Mike Feldberg and Joseph Meeks overlooking the campus. |
KENNESAW, Ga. (Jan. 19, 2007)—Local businessman Bob Feldberg and his wife, Elaine, recently endowed a music scholarship in the College of the Arts at Kennesaw State University in honor of his mother, Cynthia Feldberg. Bob and Elaine Feldberg own Repro Products, a Smyrna-based printing company that was selected as the 2005 Small Business of the Year by the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce.
An official scholarship signing ceremony was held on campus. It was attended by KSU President Dan Papp, Vice President for Advancement Wesley Wicker, College of the Arts Dean Joseph Meeks, Cynthia Feldberg, Bob Feldberg and his son, Mike Feldberg, who heads The Color Spot, a Smyrna business that specializes in tradeshow displays, banners and vehicle graphics.
Bob and Elaine Feldberg are also the immediate past chairs of the KSU College of the Arts Annual Benefit Gala. Under their leadership, the fundraiser garnered more than $300,000 for scholarship endowments and student-learning initiatives. They began their relationship with the College by serving on this committee in 2003.
“The College of the Arts has a fantastic team of and staff led by Dean Joseph Meeks,” Bob Feldberg said. “They have built extraordinary academic programs and outstanding community programs that are models for university arts everywhere. We have been very impressed by the talent and dedication of the and the students.”
Last year, after hearing a student talk about the impact a scholarship had on his life and future career, the Feldbergs decided to make their connection with the College permanent by establishing the Cynthia Feldberg Endowed Piano Scholarship, which will be awarded each year in perpetuity. The scholarship honors Mr. Feldberg’s mother, a Boston native who now lives in Cobb County to be closer to her son and his family. Cynthia Feldberg grew up playing piano and has fostered a lifelong love of music. She graduated from the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Mass. She was both a classmate and a performing concert pianist with such notables as conductor Leonard Bernstein and contralto Eunice Alberts.
“I wanted to honor my mother, who is an inspiration to me,” Bob Feldberg said. “She knew hardship and made many personal sacrifices for me. She is a strong believer in education and a devotee of the arts.”
Cynthia Feldberg will be able to meet the recipients of her scholarship each year, which Bob says will “create an enduring impression of how much she is esteemed and loved and will perpetuate her giving spirit.”
Endowed scholarships are long-term investment to help secure the future success and quality of arts majors. To establish a new endowment at Kennesaw State, the minimum funding level is $20,000, sometimes payable over a period of years.
“We have been honored to count the entire Feldberg family among the friends of the arts at Kennesaw State,” Dean Meeks said. “They are truly wonderful people and their generosity has had and will continue to have a very positive impact on our students.”
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Kennesaw State University is a comprehensive, residential institution with a growing student population exceeding 20,000 from 132 countries. The third largest state university out of 35 institutions in the University System of Georgia, KSU offers more than 55 undergraduate and graduate degree programs.
The KSU College of the Arts is one of only four Georgia institutions to have achieved full national accreditation for all of its arts programs.