Contact: John Scarffe, KU Endowment Association, (785) 832-7336.
LAWRENCE - The family of a University of Kansas student who committed suicide has established a memorial scholarship in his name at the School of Engineering, Dean Carl E. Locke Jr. announced today.
To help deal with the loss of their oldest son, Raymond J. "Jerome" Horton II, Betty and Raymond Horton of Topeka and their two children, Carl and Reagan, established the Jerome Horton Foundation. The foundation's mission is to increase suicide awareness and prevention education and to award scholarships.
To provide a lasting tribute for Jerome Horton, the foundation gave $10,000 to the Kansas University Endowment Association to endow the Jerome Horton Engineering Scholarship for undergraduate minority engineering students at KU.
"The Horton family faced a tragic event in a brave and generous way," Locke said. "They have taken steps to help others with great courage and foresight. These funds will allow the School of Engineering to help minority engineering students for years to come. We are very grateful to them and touched by their thoughtfulness."
Jerome Horton was a fourth-year student at KU when he took his own life in 1997 while suffering from clinical depression. He was editor of the National Society of Black Engineers magazine and treasurer of the KU chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers. He received the General Motors Outstanding Freshman in Engineering Award and earned a KU Engineering Scholarship and a Kansas Merit Scholarship.
"While this scholarship honors Jerome, it is more a tribute to the School of Engineering," Betty Horton said. "The program treats students as human beings, not as numbers. This was so important to Jerome because the school provided him with a wonderful support system. We are grateful to everyone who helped him, and we feel so good about establishing this scholarship to help other students."
The Jerome Horton Foundation is located on the Internet at www.hortonfoundation.org.
KU Endowment is an independent, nonprofit organization serving as the official fund-raising and fund-management foundation for KU. Founded in 1891, KU Endowment is the oldest foundation of its type at a public university in the United States and one of the largest.