Four Texas real estate professionals are furthering their careers with help from the Bob Edge Scholarship Fund at Communities Foundation of Texas.
The fund awarded its first scholarships earlier this year to the four to pursue professional certification in commercial real estate.
Recipients of the inaugural scholarships, and the professional designations they are pursuing, are:
- Irma LeCroy, Re/Max Commercial, Rockwall (CCIM and SIOR);
- Matthew K. Marshall, Landbridge Commercial Properties, Tyler (CCIM);
- Graham Merriman, Wilcox Development, Dallas (CCIM); and
- Tyler Sorenson, Transwestern Retail, Dallas (CCIM).
The Bob Edge Scholarship Fund at CFT promotes the profession and helps deserving professionals further their careers. The fund honors Robert T. "Bob" Edge, a vice chairman of Cushman & Wakefield of Texas, Inc. and one of the most active brokerage professionals in the country.
"The Bob Edge Scholarship is, of course, a great honor for me personally," Mr. Edge himself recently noted. "However, more importantly, it provides an avenue for providing financial support to young professionals in the real estate industry to help them advance their careers. "We are very happy to have kicked off the actual awarding of our first scholarships to Irma, Matthew, Graham and Tyler. I am anxious to work with CFT to grow this scholarship and its impact in helping more deserving young people achieve their goals."
One of those deserving professionals, recipient Tyler Sorenson, said, "I am extremely grateful to have been selected for the Bob Edge Scholarship program at CFT. This scholarship has enabled me to earn my CCIM and further advance my career in real estate."
In 1974, Mr. Edge opened Cushman & Wakefield’s Dallas office and has handled numerous corporate headquarters relocations including American Airlines, Caltex Petroleum, Occidental Chemical and Celanese Chemical. He serves as a mentor to young real estate professionals at Cushman & Wakefield and at other local firms.
"For over 30 years, Bob has made enormous contributions and set the standard for professional achievement in our real estate community," said John F. Crawford, president and chief executive officer, DOWNTOWNDALLAS, and a member of the Bob Edge Scholarship Committee.
"The Bob Edge Scholarship is an important ingredient for carrying on a tradition that will allow others to follow his lead and pursue a higher level of professionalism and accreditation in commercial real estate. It is a pleasure to be associated with such a worthwhile endeavor."
Such endeavors are common at CFT, which administers more than 50 scholarship funds and this year has committed over $658,000 to help students reach their scholastic goals during the 2009-10 academic year. For some students, receiving a scholarship means being the first in their family to pursue a college education. Scholarships can be created with an initial gift of $50,000, and an endowed scholarship can be established for a minimum of $100,000 (within three years).
CFT works with donors to draft scholarship criteria that achieve the philanthropic goals of the donor or interested parties. Scholarships may be created with broad criteria or with specific criteria, such as exclusivity to students graduating from a particular geographical area or high school, attending a specific college or university, or pursuing a particular course of study.
For more information about the Bob Edge Scholarship and other scholarships administered by CFT, please visit our Scholarship page.