SOUTH KINGSTOWN – The estate of a late University of Rhode Island alumna and her late husband, a former General Electric Co. executive, is providing the state land-grant school the largest philanthropic monetary gift it has received in its 132-year history.
URI announced Friday the estate from the late Helen Izzi Schilling and Francis “Frank” Schilling is gifting the university $65 million to establish a scholarship program named after the donors. The university says the new endowed scholarship program will provide high-achieving undergraduate students majoring in a science, technology, engineering or math field up to $20,000 per year for four years.
“With her forward-thinking generosity, Helen Schilling leaves a permanent legacy at the University, and her name will be remembered by students and their families for generations to come,” Lil Breul O’Rourke, president of URI Foundation & Alumni Engagement, said in a statement. “An estate gift is really an investment in the future, and we remain deeply grateful to the Schillings for seeing URI as a worthy investment.”
Dr. Paul J. Schilling, a Florida-based medical doctor and son of Helen and Francis, told Providence Business News that the impetus of his family contributing financially for higher education began when his grandfather immigrated to the U.S. and attended the Rhode Island School of Design on a scholarship. Then, he put his four daughters through college, which Schilling says was a rarity in the 1940s.
Additionally, Schilling said he established a scholarship program at the University of North Florida – similar to the new endowed scholarship program to be launched at URI – supporting students who were either homeless or in foster care.
“My grandmother would say, ‘It’s in our [family’s] DNA,’ ” Schilling said.
Back in 2019, former CVS Health Corp. Chairman, CEO and President Thomas M. Ryan and his wife, Cathy,
contributed a $35 million gift to URI for the George & Anne Ryan Institute for Neuroscience, the Thomas M. Ryan Scholars program and a “challenge” to support a new basketball training facility on campus. At the time, the gift was the largest single gift that URI ever received.
Helen Izzi Schilling, a 1954 university graduate, worked as a registered dietitian in various hospitals for about 50 years, taught at the university level and developed her own consulting business, according to her obituary from Florida-based Hodges Funeral Home at Naples Memorial Gardens. Her late husband, Francis, URI says, worked at GE, where he became vice president and was head of GE Medical Systems in the 1970s when the company introduced CT and MRI scanners to doctors and hospitals.
The Schillings in 2011 contributed $6 million to URI from their estate for scholarships for students studying all disciplines, which was at that time the largest gift URI received. Both Francis and Helen Izzi Schilling died in 2020 at the ages of 89 and 87, respectively.
URI President Marc B. Parlange said in an email to PBN the transformational gift from the Schillings will “significantly enhance” the support the university provides students, as well as improve its ability to enroll top students and retain them.
Schilling said having the new scholarship program at URI focusing on STEM fields was a “natural fit” given his parents’ long careers working in STEM-related fields. He said the program will start with 24 students being supported and build it out over several years.
“I think it's going to help a lot of people and then I think it will compound itself,” Schilling said. “There is funding now for students who want to go into STEM, or are unsure and this may attract people to go into STEM [programs].”
Parlange added that close to 100 scholars will be built out over four years and the scholarships will support “thousands of students in the future.”
Schilling also said URI’s review of students applying for financial assistance through the program will be “effectively holistic,” as well as considering both academic excellence and leadership. Parlange said prospective students are encouraged to apply for the scholarships by Dec. 1.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on X at @James_Bessette.
