Dr. Irving Fradkin, a long-time Fall River resident who founded Fall River Scholars for Dollars – An educational scholarship program that started out helping local students pay for college tuition & fees, and then grew nationwide over decades – has died. He was 95.
Dr. Fradkin referred to himself as “an optometrist with vision.” Scholarship America, the group that grew because of Dr. Fradkin’s dedication and efforts since the 1950’s, has grown into the largest scholarship organization in the country. It oversees 500 chapters of Dollars for Scholars and advises or administers 1,300 other scholarship programs.
To date, the group has provided $3.5 billion dollars in scholarship aid to 2.2 million students; the first of those were 24 Fall River high school seniors who split $5,000 in scholarship money that Dr. Fradkin raised almost single-handedly – in 1958.
Funeral Services will be held Tuesday, November 22nd at noon in Temple Beth-El at 385 High Street, Fall River. Donations in Dr. Fradkin’s name may be directed to Scholarship America, 7900 International Drive, Suite 500, Minneapolis, MN 55425.
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