A $4 million gift to WVU will help two Oak Hill High School graduates go to school every year.
Emil Czul (pronounced “Sewell”), a WVU alumnus and 1950 graduate of Oak Hill High School, left that money to the university to create two endowed, full-ride scholarships that will be awarded each calendar year to financially needy students from Oak Hill High School, according to a press release from the WVU Foundation.
Czul died last November in Kissimmee, Fla. He was 85. The scholarships will go to engineering students.
Czul worked as a bricklayer for three years and enlisted in the U.S. Army for two years before enrolling at WVU, where he earned his degree in mechanical engineering in 1960. He worked with the U.S. government in Virginia before retiring in 1988.
“My uncle was a handsome, witty and intelligent man. He was a lifelong bachelor. He was an avid reader and a self-taught investor,” nephew Joe Czul said in the press release. “He loved West Virginia and its fresh mountain air, Oak Hill High School and cared for WVU.”
WVU President Gordon Gee said, “This gift from Emil Czul is a prime example of the university’s alumni and the affection they have for this institution. He understood first-hand the struggles many students have and the barriers they face. However, he also knew the opportunities a college education provides. His concern for the people who come after him, and the desire to provide them an easier path than he had, is the embodiment of the Mountaineer spirit.”
The idea to create the scholarship for engineering students came about almost 20 years ago.
“We believe he credited the success of his career to his engineering degree. He envisioned his gift helping academically able, but financially unable students to attend WVU,” Joe Czul said.
“We will be forever indebted to Mr. Czul for his extreme generosity, and I only wish I had the opportunity to know him,” said Gene Cilento, Glen H. Hiner Dean of the Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources. “His story is one that continues to play out today with deserving students finding it difficult to attend college. His support will allow us to provide scholarships to well-deserving West Virginia students studying engineering.”
Czul’s intent was for tuition, room, board and books be provided to engineering students demonstrating need and academic promise, according to the release.
The estate gift was made through the WVU Foundation, the non-profit corporation that solicits and administers private donations on behalf of the university.
