Couple Creates Bright Future for UIW Students

Jean and Phil Piccione are part of the education community in San Antonio. Their legacy is funding students' education and supporting faculty development. When they first came to San Antonio, UIW had 1,300 students; now there are more than 10,000. Jean and Phil are very much part of that growth, and the UIW community is thankful for their support.

Both are retired Air Force, Jean a nurse from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Phil a pilot from Lafayette, Louisiana. They saw the importance of an individual's education early on and set out to do their part to create a brighter future for their community. They have established a total of 18 endowments in several colleges and universities in San Antonio, as well as in Pittsburgh and Lafayette. They felt it was important to share their resources so that others may have the opportunity and ability to receive an education from whichever school they chose.

Jean began her philanthropic efforts after receiving a small inheritance from a late aunt. She had not wished to keep the money and instead chose to create a scholarship in her aunt's name. Phil began his first scholarships for students majoring in education in order to afford others the same opportunity he had. Nursing and business are both important aspects of their legacy, but they wanted to provide students and faculty a chance to find their own calling. They began expanding their giving to include math scholarships and faculty development in universities as well as community colleges.

One of their first scholarships was for a young single mother majoring in math. Upon meeting the young lady, she thanked them saying, "I want my daughter to have it better than me". For Jean, that's the whole purpose of giving, "I was the first to get a college education in my family and I had no financial assistance, but I got through it, and now we can help other people help themselves."