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By Skippy Davis Good News
The foundation named its first class of 15 scholars May 4. The students will receive scholarships ranging from $2,500 to $3,000. Juanita Jordan, executive director of the foundation, said the financial support will be ongoing for scholars who provide evidence of eligibility from year to year. The program honors the late Peyton T. Anderson who, as part of his prolific philanthropy during his life, funded higher education degrees for several promising high school students from the Macon community. Jordan said that in trying to find a spectacular project for the anniversary to propose to the foundation’s board of trustees, she began thinking about how important education was to Anderson, for whom Jordan worked as an assistant for 20 years. He was always committed to the importance of education, especially a college education. “I looked around town to see what we could do, and it always came back to the scholarship,” Jordan said adding that the trustees “overwhelmingly” approved the project, which is being coordinated for the foundation by Jean Fallis of Mercer University. Anderson, owner and publisher of the Macon Telegraph and Macon News from 1951 until 1969, was widely known for his leadership, business acumen and philanthropy. One of the foundation’s trustees, Tom Johnson, worked for Anderson at the newspapers while he was a high school student. Sensing his potential and his need, Anderson funded a university education for Johnson. “I keep a photo of him in my office,” said Johnson, a Macon native who went on to achieve an illustrious career in media. Johnson was in high school and working as a sports stringer for the Macon Telegraph when Anderson learned that the young man longed to attend college but could not afford the cost. Recognizing Johnson’s potential, Anderson created a scholarship so that he could attend the University of Georgia and later sent him to Harvard Business School. Anderson’s investment paid off. Johnson retired in 2001 as chairman and CEO of CNN News Group. His career included a number of impressive positions including one on President Lyndon B. Johnson’s staff and as publisher of the Dallas Times Herald and the Los Angeles Times. “Peyton Anderson had an enormous impact on my life,” Johnson said in his speech at the scholar award luncheon. “He believed in me and, because of that belief and the financial assistance, I came to belive in myself and knew that if I worked hard and did right that I could make it.” “You can, too,” Johnson told the students. “We believe in you.” James Wooten, who is retiring as associate editorial page editor for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution June 30, worked for Anderson at the Macon News. Like Johnson, Wooten came from a family that was unable to provide him with a college education. Wooten said that Johnson had become the first beneficiary of Anderson’s idea to “to pluck one kid out of the community a year and assist them in going to college.” A short time later, Anderson picked Wooten. “(Peyton Anderson) saw something in me that he thought was worthy of investment,” Wooten said. “He was that promise of a future at a point when I really didn’t know what I was going to do.” Johnson’s and Wooten’s stories exemplify what the foundation hopes to achieve for the Peyton Anderson Scholars. “I don’t think there is anything more important that we could do but to enable promising young students to get a university education,” said Johnson. “We’re looking for unique individuals with unique potential.”
Anderson died in 1988. He directed in his will that the bulk of his estate be used broadly for charitable purposes. Since its birth in 1989, the foundation has awarded more than $58.5 million in grants primarily in Macon and Central Georgia. Ed S. Sell III, a foundation trustee since its beginning, said it is difficult to single out the best of the foundation’s initiatives or the most successful. But “without taking away from any of the others,” he said, Sell pointed out three projects conceived and funded by the foundation.
“Peyton was one of those persons who was generous in a private manner, and since his death, I learned that he had a strong conviction that persons who make their money from a community should use it to benefit the community,” Sell said. “While I don’t know for sure, I suspect that was a primary factor that led him to leave most of his estate to the foundation. “it has been a tremendous honor and privilege to serve as a trustee of the Peyton Anderson Foundation. One reason is being able to closely observe how much a foundation like that created by Mr. Anderson can do in a community the size of Macon.” For more information about the Peyton Anderson Scholars, visit www.peytonandersonscholars.org |
In celebration of its 20th anniversary, The Peyton Anderson Foundation has launched a new initiative, the Peyton Anderson Scholars, awarding scholarships annually to selected high school seniors in Bibb County.
Eligibility for the scholarship requires U.S. citizenship, a 2.0 or higher grade point average, graduation from a high school in Bibb County and matriculation at one of several named Georgia colleges or universities during the fall following high school graduation. Students must provide evidence of continued eligibility each year. Jordan and the foundation hope the students chosen each year will form a cohesive and mutually supportive group as the years continue.
