SU Foundation announces completion of Seidel Challenge

SALISBURY, MD ---Salisbury University and the Eastern Shore community said thank you today to one of the area's leading families with a million dollar contribution to their favorite project: the Samuel W. and Marilyn C. Seidel School of Education and Professional Studies.

With the successful completion of the Seidel Challenge Campaign, officially launched a little over a year ago, the Seidel School now enjoys an endowment of some $2.5 million--on par with the founding endowments of its sisters schools: the Franklin P. Perdue School of Business, the Charles R. and Martha N. Fulton School of Liberal Arts, and the Richard A. Henson School of Science and Technology.

"Sam would be very pleased that people have continued to honor him in this way," said his wife, Marilyn. "The family and I are proud and appreciative." Her husband died of cancer last year.

"The successful completion of the Seidel Challenge is ultimately a tribute to those values we hold dear on the Eastern Shore," said SU President Janet Dudley-Eshbach. "The Seidels, a Salisbury family with high principles, worked hard to make their dreams a reality, and have helped others to do the same. The Seidel name will always be synonymous with fairness, public service and advancement through education. A grateful community has responded enthusiastically to their unselfishness."

More than half of the million dollars raised by the challenge is earmarked for scholarships, which are particularly important to the Seidels. "The real goal of the endowment is to get good people into education," said Sam Seidel when he and his wife endowed the school in 1997. In addition, funds were also designated for library acquisitions, equipment, and faculty recruitment and research.

The campaign has enjoyed widespread community support, including a $150,000 matching gift from the Perdue-Kresge Fund, through the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore.

The Seidel family's hope of attracting the best into education comes at a critical time. By next year, over 50 percent of Maryland's teachers become eligible for retirement and the teacher shortage has prompted national headlines on hiring efforts by desperate school systems.

After the University of Maryland College Park and Towson University, SU is Maryland's largest supplier of teachers. This year the Seidel School has enrolled some 1,454 students in its departments of Education, Social Work and Physical Education. "The Seidel endowment will allow us to continue attracting some of Maryland's most promising young people into teaching careers," said Dr. Dennis Pataniczek, dean of the Seidel School.

The Seidel Family and Salisbury University

The late Samuel W. Seidel, a prominent Eastern Shore businessman, civic leader and philanthropist, and his wife, Marilyn, endowed Salisbury University's School of Education and Professional Studies in 1997 with a $1 million challenge gift. The Seidel School became the first named endowed school of education in Maryland and, at that time, only the second named endowed school of education in the country.

This gift was the culmination of a lifelong special relationship between the University and the Seidels. The civic-minded couple had financed some 14 scholarships throughout the region--seven of them at SU.

Marilyn Seidel, a retired operating room nurse, has taken a special interest in nursing education, endowing a nursing scholarship at the University.

An SU alumnus, Sam Seidel was an avid supporter of his campus and its students. A sports fan and one-time coach, he with his wife were frequent figures at basketball games and other athletic events. For 19 years he was a dedicated member of the Salisbury University Foundation board of directors, including serving as its president. He worked tirelessly to build its assets which expanded dramatically during his tenure.

Seidel family ties to the campus go back over a half-century. Sam Seidel enrolled in 1939. His brothers, the late Sheldon, former county attorney for Wicomico, and Lou, a teacher and principal in Harford County for 39 years, are also alumni. All three of Marilyn and Sam Seidel's children, Hank, Mike and Jennifer, graduated from SU; all went on to graduate school.

"I feel very good about the education my children got there," Sam Seidel said.

In 2001 he was honored by the University with an honorary doctorate of humane letters for a lifetime of service to both his community and Alma Mater.

Samuel W. Seidel and the Eastern Shore Community

The Seidel name has long been associated with fairness. Said one neighbor, "Sam has always been a friend of the common man."

A veteran of World War II, Sam Seidel received five Battle Stars for combat in the Pacific. Returning to Salisbury after the war, he taught and coached basketball at Wicomico High School.

But he taught more than winning: To improve his team's skills, he had them scrimmage with African-American players from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, unheard of in this area at that time. This act had a profound impact on the young athletes. Said one, future U.S. Senator Paul S. Sarbanes, "Sam imparted values to me, values which still guide me in my professional life."

A self-made man, Seidel went into the insurance business in 1952 and established what became the largest privately-owned insurance operation in Maryland. He continued to emphasize equality by hiring African-American professionals and sponsoring integrated sports teams. "He's taken heat for being a supporter of minority issues," said retired president of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Dr. William P. Hytche.

In 1966, at the urging of the Democratic Central Committee, Seidel ran for Salisbury City Council where he served for 20 years before retiring.

As his businesses prospered, the Seidels endowed scholarships for area high schools and colleges and established a special "Reading Forever" fund to build up local school libraries.

Their most creative act of philanthropy came in 1993, when Sam and his wife, Marilyn, established the 2100 and 2200 funds to assist those less fortunate in Salisbury and Wicomico County. Borrowing an idea from Benjamin Franklin, they purchased $100,000 in bonds for each account which will not be opened until the end of the 21st and 22nd centuries. At that time the funds are projected to be worth $25 million and $25 billion, respectively.

Seidel's integrity, courage and work--besides politics and education, he has served on several community boards--have been recognized by his fellow citizens. Honors have included awards from the Chamber of Commerce, Salvation Army, the Rotary, the National Conference of Christians and Jews, and the White House, as well as Salisbury University. In 1995, he received the Salisbury Award, the city's highest accolade for citizenship.