His Name Lives On
A law school scholarship is created
in memory of graduate Matt Lash.
Matt Lash at his Chicago-Kent College of Law graduation, with his parents,
Roberta and Cliff.
Shell Liebman Dorfman
Senior Writer
B
eyond achieving his educa-
tional goals at Chicago-Kent
College of Law, the late
Matt Lash also made an impact at the
school that will live on as part of his
legacy.
With the establishment of the col-
lege's Matt Lash '07 Memorial Fund,
Chicago-Kent plans to award the first
annual scholarship in Matt's name
during the 2009-2010 school year.
"Some of Matt's classmates
approached us about creating it:' said
Lisa Turley, the college's assistant dean
for institutional advancement. "We
had already received some gifts in his
memory but none with a lasting leg-
acy, so they wanted to endow a fund
whose income would become available
each year to a student of merit and
need!'
Matt's parents, Roberta and Cliff
Lash of Novi, were involved in creat-
ing the guidelines for the scholarship.
"It meant a great deal to him to go to
Kent:' said Roberta. "We are so moved
by the idea that so many of his class-
mates collectively decided to initiate
the scholarship. When we were asked
about what criteria should be used in
the selection process, both Cliff and
I agreed that we wanted this endow-
ment to go to a student facing health
challenges.
"Matt was the recipient of a scholar-
ship fund started by Dr. Charles Main
at Beaumont [Hospital], and it meant
so much to Matt that they had chosen
him to receive this. I guess you could
say this is our way of 'paying it for-
ward. And we can tell you with almost
certainty that Matt would agree!'
Matt's impact at Chicago-Kent
included serving as an officer of the
Student Bar Association and writing
for the law school's newspaper, The
Commentator. He suffered from cancer
throughout his years there.
"He helped recruit students from
Michigan for the school: said Cliff
Lash. "He made tons of friends,
including students and professors.
Matt made such an impact on every-
one's lives that he met. It is so impor-
tant that he can continue to make
other's lives a little easier and uplift-
ing, even if he never had a chance to
meet these people!'
"The fact that Matt can have his
name carry on hopefully forever with
this scholarship, it means everything
to us, his family;" Cliff Lash said.
"Having the challenges Matt had was
pretty lousy ... When Matt received the
scholarships, it made all of us smile. It
was nice to get a break every so often
and great to know that people cared.
Through the help of everyone sup-
porting the Matthew Lash scholarship,
we know we can give that same feeling
to other families. What better gift can
Matt and we give?" ❑
To contribute to the Matt Lash
'07 Memorial Fund, access
the Web site at: www.kentlaw.
edu/give; scroll down to the
"Matt Lash '07 Memorial Fund,"
or mail a donation to Chicago-
Kent College of Law, Office of
Institutional Advancement, 565 W.
Adams, Suite 310, Chicago, IL
60661. For information, call (312)
906-5240.
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September 18 • 2008
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