A retired Citrus College professor from the Social and Behavioral Sciences Department donated $1.3 million to Citrus College.
Dr. John W. Cassey taught western civilization, world politics and humanities classes at Citrus College for over 40 years. Cassey died March 25, 2017. He left a generous donation to Citrus College, which is the largest donation in school history. Cassey’s donation was received in March 2017, but went through various stages of taxes until December 2017.
Previous to this donation Citrus College received a gift of $630,000 from Marie Phileo in 2006, Superintendent/President Dr. Geraldine Perri wrote in an email.
When first seeing the generous donation, Perri wrote, “I was extremely thrilled to learn of Dr. Cassey’s generosity to Citrus College and knew his gift would support the educational journey of many students.”
Part of Cassey’s donation went into two new scholarships under the names of him and his wife, Patricia Knox. These two scholarships went into effect in 2017.
The Patricia L. Knox Memorial Scholarship awards $2,000 to Citrus College nursing students with a 3.0 GPA or higher, graduating and transferring to an accredited nursing school. The Dr. John Cassey Memorial Scholarship awards $1,000 to a student transferring to a four-year college and majoring in history or political science.
“In addition, Dr. Cassey wanted to support various types of college community enrichment such as faculty development and professional development,” Perri wrote.
Citrus College will be celebrating Cassey’s life at 2 p.m. April 19 in the Citrus College community room. Citrus College will also have a recognition wall for Cassey in Hayden Hall.
“Dr. Cassey considered the Citrus College community his family,” Perri wrote.
