Community Corner

Scholarship Will Honor Ed Koch, Benefit Local Students

Bryan Cave LLP has launched a $25,000 fund that will be distributed to five students from the Brooklyn School for Collaborative Studies in Carroll Gardens.


In honor of their late partner, former New York City Mayor Edward I. Koch, a New York law firm has established a scholarship that will benefit Carroll Gardens students with a passion for public service. 

Bryan Cave LLP, the international law firm, has launched a $25,000 fund that will be distributed to five students from the Brooklyn School for Collaborative Studies.

“We miss Ed tremendously—it was a real privilege to have him as a partner at our firm for 23 years,” managing partner Vincent Alfieri told Patch. “We thought about a number of different things we could do to honor his legacy and decided that a charitable endeavor like this, funded individually by the partners in the New York office, would be most fitting."

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The school was chosen from a small group of candidates after a number of factors were considered.

“Brooklyn School for Collaborative Studies is a terrific school, with a good record of getting students ready for college and a huge percentage of seniors go on to post secondary study,” said Alfieri.

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The Bryan Cave Edward I. Koch Scholarship Fund will provide five high school seniors with $5,000 scholarships to pursue post secondary education, according to a release. Students in good standing at BCS in 2013 and who are pursuing an education at an accredited vocational/technical school, college, or university are eligible to apply for the scholarship. Those with a passion for public service will be given special consideration, Alfieri told Patch.

“Various criteria will be taken into account,” he said. “But in particular, we will take into account if they have an interest in public service and the law. That was Ed Koch. From the army to the law office, at the local level, as a congressman and as mayor.” 

Joshua Steckel, the College Counselor at the Brooklyn School for Collaborative Studies expressed his appreciation for the new designation at the school.

“We are very grateful to be working with Bryan Cave on this scholarship initiative in honor of Ed Koch,” Steckel said. “We work so closely with our students and families to open doors to highly selective colleges at BCS, but the cost of higher education can make it very difficult for families to afford to take advantage of these opportunities. Through generous efforts like this, we are able to help our families bring the best possible educational outcomes within reach. The initiative will make a tremendous difference in the lives of our students.” 

The scholarships will be awarded for the first time this spring, and recipients will enjoy a celebratory lunch in the firm’s mid-town Manhattan office this May, said Alfieri.


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