McNary Memorial Endowment

In honor and memory of an extraordinary journalist, brother, husband, and friend, we the family, friends, classmates and colleagues of Dave McNary ‘74 are establishing the Dave McNary Memorial Scholarship Endowment for Journalism at UCLA. This endowment will provide perpetual scholarship support to student-journalists following in Dave’s footsteps at The UCLA Daily Bruin, where Dave began his career and which he championed enthusiastically as a UCLA alumnus.

Throughout a career that spanned nearly half a century, Dave was a dogged, productive reporter whose career exemplified the integrity, dedication, and commitment to truth-telling that are the qualities of a good journalist. He was a generous mentor to younger colleagues, and to today’s aspiring journalists at the Daily Bruin. During his years at UCLA, Dave persevered without the benefit of scholarship support or financial aid. He was keenly aware how big a difference even a small scholarship could make in the life of a student. That’s why there’s no more fitting way to honor his memory than to establish a fund to ease the burden on today’s aspiring journalists.

In 2021, the Daily Bruin Alumni Network designated one of its crowd-funded annual scholarships in Dave’s name. To ensure that Dave’s legacy endures and grows, we are pleased to launch the McNary Memorial Endowment Campaign this spring. Our goal is to fully fund the McNary Memorial Endowment by the 2022 Daily Bruin Alumni Network Reunion on October 15, 2022. Beginning in the 2023-24 academic year, the McNary Memorial Endowment will annually support at least one (1) scholarship of $2,000 for a recipient selected by the UCLA Financial Aid Office.

Our thanks to Dave’s sisters, Nancy McNary Leach ‘78, Barbara McNary Spindler ‘79 and Jane McNary O’Meara for their generous lead gift of $21,000. The McNary Memorial Endowment readily accepts employer-matched contributions, and welcomes the support of industry and corporate partners who care about the future of journalism and the student journalists who will be following in Dave’s footsteps.

To contribute now to the McNary Memorial Endowment, please (1) Visit: http://giving.ucla.edu/DaveMcNaryScholarship, or (2) Send a check made out to “The UCLA Foundation,” with “Dave McNary Memorial Scholarship - ME 31898” on the memo line, to:

The UCLA Foundation
P.O. Box 7145
Pasadena, CA 91109-9903

The McNary Memorial Endowment Campaign