ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
Carlotte Raymond, left, handed out 17 Killam scholarships to Marblehead High graduates, including Anastasia Vainas, who will attend the University of San Diego.
BY BRIDGET TURCOTTE
MARBLEHEAD — Supporting the education of local children has become one man’s legacy.
Thanks to Oliver Killam, a Marblehead resident who wanted his fortune to help children pursue schooling, scholarships were given to 17 Marblehead High School graduates. The Oliver P. Killam Charitable Foundation scholarships, totalling more than $125,000, were distributed Tuesday at the Law Office of Welch & Muzio in Salem.
Renee Pavlovich, a recipient who received a $5,000 award, plans to study public health and global studies at the University of Pittsburgh.
“I want a job where I can travel and a job where I can help people,” she said. “This makes grad school a possibility.”
Her mother, Alison Pavlovich, said the money her daughter received will enable her to pursue the higher education she strives for.
“The prospect of paying for school is so daunting for them,” Pavlovich said. “Many of them can’t think beyond college. This makes it not so daunting.”
Mary MacAllister, who grew up with Killam and was a close family friend, described him as “eccentric, innovative and wealthy, yet simple.”
“I was a year and a half when I moved to Marblehead with my family,” she said. “He sort of adopted us. He would come in unannounced all the time. He became a part of our family.”
MacAllister said Killam built furniture and had an interest in architecture, but never attended school for it. It was investments, including one in Microsoft Corp., that led to most of his fortune, she said.
“He made money, but never left his basement apartment,” she added. “That’s all he wanted.”
When he died, his will set aside the money in a private foundation. Eighty percent of the proceeds was to be given to high school graduates to help them pay for college and 20 percent went to the upkeep of a Children’s Room at the Abbot Public Library.
In the past decade, the foundation has awarded more than $5 million to Marblehead High School students in his name, said Scott MacAllister, a foundation trustee.
Awards are given with returns from his investments, which Scott said continue to grow at a modest rate. He said the hope is for the program to live on forever.
The money is given on a needs basis and range from $3,000 to $15,000. If students remain academically successful while in college, the award is recurring each year for four years.
“He preferred to give out a smaller number of large scholarships rather than a larger number of small scholarships,” Scott said.
The intention is to help make a substantial difference in the plans of the recipients, he said.
Cassie Riddle, who declined to reveal the amount of her scholarship, said the decision of which college to attend was made mostly on financial aid. She will attend Providence College in the fall and is interested in health policy and management, and in Spanish.
“This scholarship is terrific,” said Diane Sullivan, Riddle’s mom. “It was very unexpected but rewarding. It’s nice to hear about someone who was so successful and chose to give back to the community.”
Bridget Turcotte can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @BridgetTurcotte.