"I wanted to do something for young people to give them a chance to get an education," said donor Sam Masarachia, a retired United Steelworkers of America representative.

Masarachia’s is the largest gift to date to the Indiana University School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI, and the scholarship program to be established under his name will be among the urban campus’ largest student scholarship programs, said Gerald Bepko, IUPUI chancellor.

"Many of our students struggle to complete an education while balancing many other demands on their time and resources. Access to scholarships not only eases the strain on their budgets but also motivates them to persist in their goals and to reach for the highest level of academic achievement," Bepko said. "We are profoundly grateful for Mr. Masarachia’s generous addition to the scholarships we can make available to our students."

The Masarachia Scholars Program expects to award its first three or four scholarships in the 2001-2002 school year, said James Wallihan, an IUPUI professor of political science and the chair of the scholarship advisory board.

The program, which will include service and internship elements in addition to coursework in the student’s major, will be open to incoming IUPUI freshmen, with the possible inclusion of continuing students. Scholarships based on need and merit will be awarded to students with a demonstrated interest in labor, senior and community advocacy.

When Masarachia decided to give students a chance for something he never had, he contacted Elizabeth Hogan, a volunteer at the Southeast Senior Citizens Center where the retiree spends his leisure time. Hogan, a long-time associate faculty member at IUPUI, contacted Wallihan, a labor specialist in the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI. Wallihan worked with Masarachia, Gail Plater, director of development and external affairs for the school, and Herman Saatkamp, the school’s dean, to develop arrangements for the gift and the Masarachia Scholars Program it will endow.

The second of eight children born to parents who married after immigrating to America from Sicily in the 1890s, Masarachia–whose father worked as a coal miner in the Hoosier community of Clinton–quit high school to help provide for the family after the family moved to Indianapolis.

Masarachia went to work at an Indianapolis saw manufacturing plant in 1923 at age 17. In 1937, he became involved in helping to organize a union that successfully negotiated a pay raise, paid holidays, vacations and insurance coverage for the employees.

That success led to Masarachia’s 1941 appointment to a district staff position with the steelworkers’ union, a position he maintained until his retirement in 1968.

His 27-year career in labor was interrupted by World War II. As a soldier, Masarachia earned four bronze stars for combat.

Masarachia is a founding member of several organizations, including the Fountain Square Senior Citizen Center, now known as the Southeast Senior Citizens Center, and the 16,000-member United Senior Action, Indiana’s premier independent senior advocacy organization. He also served on the first board of the Indianapolis Task Force on Aging, the forerunner of the Central Indiana Council on Aging.