FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Richmond County Savings Foundation donates $100,000 to Pace University for endowed scholarship supporting Staten Island students

First recipient is ambitious pizza deliverer who earned highest grade in college-level accounting course taught by Pace at Monsignor Farrell High School

NEW YORK, NY, November 6, 2009 – Pace University today announced the creation of a $100,000 endowed scholarship fund to support students from Staten Island.

The first scholarship recipient is Stephen Socci, who is attending Pace this fall. He is the son of Donna Socci and Frank Socci, Jr. of the Willowbrook neighborhood.

The gift was made possible by the Richmond County Savings Foundation. One of Pace’s most distinguished alumni, Joseph R. Ficalora, is a board member of the foundation and the President, Chief Executive Officer, and a Director of New York Community Bancorp, Inc.

The new Richmond County Savings Foundation Endowed Scholarship Fund will provide direct support to a student from Staten Island pursuing his or her undergraduate education at Pace.

Ambition: Run a company

“I got interested in Pace because it has great career opportunities and is in one of the most diverse and entertaining cities in the world,” said Socci. “I plan to graduate in five years with my master’s degree in accounting. I envision having a job one day running a company in New York City.”

This year, Socci received a special award in accounting. “It’s an award I’m very proud of,” he said. “Pace offered an accounting course at Monsignor Farrell High School for college credit. From day one I wanted to receive the award for the highest grade in the class. I worked hard and was the only student in all the accounting classes to receive an A from Pace for the accumulation of both the class and the final. It was a great accomplishment and a big part of why accounting is my major.”

Socci worked as a delivery boy at Paesano’s Pizzeria all summer long. He has started his college career by reading “Unbowed,” the autobiography of the African Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai, which Pace gave to all incoming students to read and discuss in common.

As a private institution, Pace relies heavily on support from alumni and other funders to provide an affordable education to its students. Scholarship support profoundly influences students’ ability to take full advantage of their education and of all that Pace has to offer. This is especially true right now, as families are finding it increasingly difficult to fully underwrite their children’s education.

Said Ficalora: “I’m proud that Richmond County Savings Foundation can help make the rigor and excitement of a private professional education more affordable for talented Staten Islanders. Obviously, Stephen Socci is starting a fine tradition.”

Pace now enrolls approximately 320 students from Staten Island.

Ficalora: Organizational leader

A 1979 graduate of Pace University with a Bachelor of Professional Studies in business, Ficalora provides leadership to several professional banking organizations. He is a Director of the New York State Bankers Association and Chairman of its Metropolitan Area Division. He also serves on the board of directors of the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York and as a member of both the Thrift Institutions Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Board in Washington and the Thrift Institutions Advisory Panel of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In addition, he is a director of the RSI Retirement Trust and Peter B. Cannell & Co., Inc.

The Richmond County Savings Foundation supports projects that enhance the quality of life in the communities served by the Foundation, focusing on organizations whose programs and services advance educational opportunity, enrich cultural development and strengthen health and human services.

About Pace

For 103 years Pace has produced thinking professionals by providing high quality education for the professions on a firm base of liberal learning amid the advantages of the New York metropolitan area. A private university, it has campuses in New York City and Westchester County, New York enrolling nearly 13,000 students in bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs in its Lubin School of Business, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, Lienhard School of Nursing, School of Education, School of Law, and Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems. www.pace.edu

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