Photo taken by: Steven Boxall
By: Doreen Hemlock
The estate of a couple who met in a School of Business accounting class - where she was the professor and he the student - has helped dozens of accounting
students complete their degrees. The Eloise Kimmelman Scholarship in Accounting, established by the late David Kimmelman (BBA '49) in memory of his wife,
Eloise, has been providing scholarships to accounting majors at the School since 2007. Last year alone, it provided roughly $200,000 to two dozen students,
says Jan A. Yelen, trustee of the Kimmelman Foundation and Trust.
Receiving a Kimmelman Scholarship in 2014 helped Mari Pape (MAcc '14, BSBA '14) cut down on the amount of student loans she took out to complete her
master's in accounting. "For me, it meant there was a huge load off my shoulders," Pape says of the Kimmelman funds and other grants that the School helped
her obtain. "The chair of the accounting department took it upon himself to get us [accounting majors] as much money as possible." Pape is now an internal
auditor for Miami-Dade County. She's passed her CPA exam and now is studying to become a certified fraud examiner.
The 23-year-old already is giving back to the School, grateful for the support from the Kimmelmans and others. "Because of all the scholarships I got, I've
become a donor to the Accelerated Master of Accounting program," Pape explains. She's also joined the School of Business Mentor Program to work with an
accounting major.
Steven Pita (MAcc '15, BSBA '15), a member of the third generation in a family of accountants, finds the Kimmelman Scholarship still inspires him. Receiving
the scholarship, which is based partly on academic merit, "helped me validate the work I was putting into school," he says. "It showed me it's worth going
the extra mile. And it's motivation to continue what you're doing not only in school, but going forward." Pita now works for Ernst & Young in assurance
services. He quickly passed his CPA exam, thanks to the review course in the accelerated master's program, he said. And he aims to give back to the school
in the future. "You realize somebody went out of their way to help someone they don't even know at all," he says of the scholarship. "That's something I
really value - that they were generous to us. I would definitely consider funding a scholarship going forward."
David Kimmelman funded the scholarship in his wife's memory with $2 million. The former Eloise Moxley was a professor of accounting at the School, and one
of the few women teaching in the field in the 1940s. David Kimmelman served in World War II and did military training on Miami Beach. After the war, he
returned to sunny South Florida to study and met Eloise in an accounting class she was teaching. Kimmelman always said he couldn't have attended college
without federal government grants through the GI Bill. "He appreciated that a scholarship changed his life," says Yelen, whose family was close friends with
the Kimmelmans for decades and lived near them in South Florida. "He wanted to be able to give back to other kids and, hopefully, change their lives for the
better."
Yelen represents the Kimmelman estate at the School, is actively involved with many scholarship recipients and attends the School's events for donors and
recipients every year. "I love to hear where they're going and where they're coming from," Yelen says. "In many cases, they are the first in their families
to go to college."
Miaoxuan Chen (MAcc '15, BSBA '15) wasn't the first in her family to attend college, but the daughter of Chinese entrepreneurs was the first to study at a
U.S. university. She was eager to learn about global business in an American city with warm weather. Yet, studying in a land far from home in a language
that was not her own was tough. She hoped to honor her parents and their support. Receiving a Kimmelman Scholarship for her academic performance did just
that. "They felt very happy," says Chen, who now works for a solar energy company in California.
For Joshua S. Weiner (MAcc '15, BBA '15), the Kimmelman Scholarship he received in his final semester helped pay some school expenses and offered a
financial cushion for his move to Boston to work in auditing at Ernst & Young. He might otherwise have needed loans to start in a new city after
graduation. Weiner says he felt "flattered, honored and humbled" to receive the scholarship, and enthused by the story of the Kimmelmans' romance and their
dedication to accounting students. "I feel an obligation to pay it forward and give back to UM," says Weiner, "so other students can have the opportunity I
was afforded."
