The art of generosity
Art patrons fund departmental scholarship
 ed (’64) and Nancy (’66) Meredith have shared a love of art since they met on the Wake Forest campus nearly 40 years ago. Now they are sharing their enthusiasm with students by committing more than $1 million to establish an endowed scholarship for art majors.
 “We are happy to be in a position to participate in the life of the University to this extent because of what Wake Forest has meant to us,” said Ted Meredith, a Wake Forest trustee and a national vice chair for “Honoring the Promise: The Campaign for Wake Forest.” The Merediths have already given $50,000 to establish the scholarship and have pledged an additional $500,000 through the capital campaign, which ends in 2006. They have also committed another $500,000 from their estate.
Ted Meredith became more interested in art when he was one of only two students selected for the first Student Union Art Collection buying trip to New York City in 1963. But he credits his wife with the idea to establish the scholarship.
“When we were students, Nancy was going to leave Wake Forest to go to art school because Wake Forest didn’t offer any art courses at that time. As it turned out, she left school when we got married in 1964, but we didn’t want other students who are interested in art to not have the opportunity to study here. Wake Forest has built a great art program over the years and we wanted to assist the program further with this scholarship."
The Merediths live in Vero Beach, Fla., and Santa Fe, N.M. Ted Meredith is the retired owner and chief executive officer of Bauer Inc., a Dallas, Texas, company specializing in audiovisual services, but he spent most of his career in magazine and newspaper publishing in New York City. The Merediths have two sons, Brian (’88), an investment analyst with Bank of America Securities who lives in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Douglas, a regional sales manager of American Trucker magazine who lives in Louisville, Kentucky.
The Meredith scholarship will be awarded to a student pursuing a major in studio art. "This meets a long-held need to recognize and reward those students who decide to major in art after arriving at Wake Forest and whose efforts and commitment are meritorious,” said Margaret Supplee Smith, professor and chair of the art department. “This scholarship will be an important factor in our retaining exactly those students we wish to keep in the art program at Wake Forest.”
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