my.evergreen.edu
After One Year, Joe Dear Scholarship Becomes One of the Foundation’s Largest Endowments
An accomplished public servant, Dear last served as the chief investment officer for the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the nation’s largest pension fund, which he restored to solvency in the wake of the global financial crisis. Dear also headed the Washington State Investment Board and Department of Labor and Industries. He led the federal Occupational Health and Safety Administration under President Bill Clinton, and served as chief of staff to Washington Governor Gary Locke.
When Dear passed away on February 26, 2014, his family rallied to create the Joseph Albert Dear Memorial Scholarship. According to Lee Hoemann, Evergreen’s Vice President for College Advancement and former Executive Director of the Foundation, “Gifts started coming in almost immediately.” The endowment, which focuses on financially needy students at risk of dropping out of college, qualified for a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation matching grant. With that boost, the Joe Dear scholarship quickly became one of the foundation’s largest scholarship endowments. Thanks to 185 donations from 181 generous donors, the endowment reached nearly $300,000 by the end of June 2014.
Hoemann recalled that Dear was “passionate about Evergreen. It changed his life,” a sentiment echoed by his widow, Anne Sheehan.
“Evergreen’s interdisciplinary approach was so em-
powering for him,” Sheehan said. “He found his own unique path.”
Evergreen was an unconventional choice for Dear, who came from an East Coast Ivy League tradition. But Dear himself was unconventional, Sheehan said, and “his mother was grateful he found a school that worked for him.” In tribute to his mother, Dear had set up the Ann Gavell Scholarship at Evergreen, an endowed fund designed to support financially needy students who are studying political economy.
Dear often credited Evergreen with teaching him to think creatively and use multiple perspectives to tackle complex problems. He once said, “You have to take responsibility for your education [at Evergreen]. How you apply it can be incredibly useful.”
Asked how she thought Dear would feel about his memorial scholarship, Sheehan laughed. “At first he would be embarrassed. Then he’d be very proud. He would be happy, because the school meant so much to him.”