Anthony Mack knows how important scholarships are to college students.
“I went through four years, and I got to the last semester, and I ran out of money,” said the former Stockton University Foundation board member. “I went in and talked to the dean, and they got me a scholarship. That’s the only thing that got me through.”
Mack and his wife, Rita, who’s on the foundation board, have created a $150,000 endowed scholarship benefiting undergraduate Stockton students through the A&R Mack Foundation.
In a ceremony held July 15 on Stockton’s Galloway campus, the two shared their commitment to education and their motivations for creating the scholarship.
“I’m very sympathetic when kids want to go to school, but they don’t have the resources,” Anthony Mack said. “And Stockton is an outstanding university, right here in our backyard.”
The Macks have lived in the Atlantic City area for 39 years and previously owned McDonald’s restaurants in the city — one on Arkansas Avenue in The Walk Tanger Outlets and the other on Albany Avenue just down the road from Stockton’s Atlantic City campus.
“I thought now is the right time to consider making a pathway for those who want to go to a four-year college,” Rita Mack said.
Stockton President Joe Bertolino thanked the Macks for their generosity and support at a critical time for higher education students.
“These are important times for our students, particularly as our population continues to shift and the need continues to grow,” Bertolino said. “It’s not lost on us who we serve and the access and opportunity that we provide students who otherwise would not get that opportunity.”
Stockton Foundation Executive Director Dan Nugent also thanked the Macks for their donation to create the A&R Mack Foundation Endowed Scholarship and for their service on the foundation board of directors.
“We raise money for lots of different initiatives, but we’ve always said the scholarship program is the heart and soul of the Stockton Foundation,” said Nugent, who’s also Stockton’s vice president for university advancement. “We know that when people who have such strong ties to the institution and community are generous in this way, that inspires others to do the same.”
The Macks have been strong advocates of McDonald’s Archways to Opportunity Scholarship Program, the NAACP and the Boys and Girls Club of Atlantic City, among other charitable organizations.
“We’ve just had tremendous community support for our businesses, and we felt we owe the community much more than we could ever give them back,” she said.
