Tuesday, November 11, 2014YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The Fok family is donating $2.5 million to Youngstown State University in memory of the late Thomas Fok, who served on its faculty and as a trustee of both YSU and the YSU Foundation.
The gift from Fok’s wife, Maria M.L. Fok, will be used in part to establish the Thomas and Maria Fok Scholarship. In recognition of the gift, YSU will rename Alumni House on Wick Avenue Fok Hall. Alumni House, built in 1865, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
“On behalf of every one of us at YSU, I want to thank Mrs. Fok for her generosity and for ensuring her husband’s lasting legacy at Youngstown State University,” said YSU President Jim Tressel.
Thomas Fok was born July 1, 1921, in Canton, China. He earned a baccalaureate in civil engineering at the National Tung-Chi University of China in 1945 and a master’s degree in civil engineering at the University of Illinois in 1948. In 1950, he received a master of business administration with a concentration in corporate finance and statistics at New York University. Six years later he was awarded his doctorate in civil engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.
In 1958, Fok joined the faculty at YSU as associate professor of civil engineering and taught YSU until 1967.
In 1967, Fok started his own business, forming a partnership in Mosure-Fok Consulting Engineers. In 1976, he served as chairman of his own business, Thomas Fok and Associates. He was an active member of American Society of Civil Engineers and the Mahoning Valley Technical Societies Council and had served as the president of the Mahoning Valley Society of Professional Engineers.
He died in August 2013.
Pictured: YSU President Jim Tressel presents a glass penguin to Maria M.L. Fok, widow of Thomas Fok, whose framed photo is on the table in the background. The Fok famiy has donated $2.5 million to YSU.
SOURCE: YSU News Center.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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