Thomas Wallace M’64 Funds New Scholarship to Help Adirondack Students Reach Their Peak
The journey to philanthropy began for Thomas Wallace M’64 on the shores of Saranac Lake, nestled in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains. Far different from Washington, D.C., where he was born and lived until sixth grade, Saranac Lake was a small, tight-knit community where people looked after one another.
Those values carried forward into every facet of Wallace’s life. When he wanted to go to college, Wallace used his savings from summer work as a gas station attendant and a lifeguard. In true small-town fashion, he even received a $200 no-interest loan from a local bank president who believed in his future. As someone who made his career in higher education, first as a faculty member and later as an administrator at several institutions of varying sizes, Wallace has witnessed how rising costs have become a sometimes-insurmountable barrier to students.
“College is now too far out of reach for many American families,” he laments. “Not only does it lead to a lifetime of frustration for them, but the nation also loses valuable talent.” Wallace’s deep connection to community guided much of his career in higher education. He saw firsthand how students thrived in settings where professors engaged with them beyond the classroom. His love for small, personal academic environments—like those he found at St. Lawrence University—eventually led him to give back in a major way. For Wallace, St. Lawrence represents the ideal of what undergraduate education should be: a supportive, close-knit environment that mirrors the sense of community he cherished growing up. That’s why he chose to establish the Wallace Adirondack Tri-Lakes Scholarship at St. Lawrence, supporting students from Saranac Lake, Lake Placid, and Tupper Lake, who face financial barriers to higher education.
“It will give me great satisfaction to sit down with my morning coffee one day and open the news to find an article about a St. Lawrence student doing something great, in part because of the support I provided to the University,” Wallace says.
For more information about how you can support St. Lawrence, email universityadvancement@stlawu.edu or call 888-758-4438.
