This week, Brescia University celebrated a generous donation made by the late Charles Cobb, alongside many other charities within the Owensboro Community. The estate gift to Brescia University will help advance the university’s endowment and the baseball program by establishing two new scholarships.
President Silvert spoke on the donation stating, “to be able to think about the importance of higher ed, particularly to our needy students, that he looked at the need and said, ‘this is going to need first’ and recognized the difference this can make not only to this community, in this region, but in this world to think that way is pretty special.”
A portion of the donation will be used to set up an endowed scholarship for a member of the Brescia Bearcats baseball team. This scholarship, named the “Dickie Cobb Memorial Baseball Scholarship”, honors Mr. Cobb’s younger brother who was on the Owensboro All Start team that represented Kentucky in the Little League World Series in 1952. The remainder of the gift will create “The Charles Cobb Memorial Scholarship” for a Brescia student with financial need.
Charles Cobb graduated from Kentucky Wesleyan College and was a member of Third Baptist Church. He started his career at Kresge’s Department Store in Detroit, Michigan and retired from K-Mart. Charles enjoyed investing in stocks and left an impactful legacy.
President Silvert accepted the gift on behalf of Brescia and shared the institution’s gratitude for this transformational gift.
“This means so much to Brescia but also to the Owensboro community. I think that Mr. cobb clearly understood that this community needs a strong Wesleyan AND a strong Brescia. To be a graduate of one and to give such a substantial gift to the other truly is a gift. It is a realization of the need of this community and of higher education in general that most people don’t think of,” he said. “If we only had more people who thought and cared like Mr. Cobb, we would be in a very different place, and I look forward to a world where everyone does.”