Rutgers GSE Receives $3M Gift to Establish the Charles A. DeMarzo and Keith N. Lamb Endowed Chair in Educational Equity

Rutgers GSE is pleased to announce a gift of $3 million from The Charles A. DeMarzo and Keith N. Lamb Fund to establish the Charles DeMarzo and Keith Lamb Endowed Chair in Educational Equity.

With this endowed chair, GSE will recruit a distinguished education leader whose scholarship advances educational equity to help our school, communities, and university understand and improve the educational experiences of P-20 students who are underserved in America’s classrooms.

“The leadership of Charles DeMarzo to advance excellence and equity in education is exemplary,” stated Rutgers University—New Brunswick Provost Wanda J. Blanchett.  “This gift speaks to our core educational mis-sion of building our distinguished faculty.  This endowed chair will demonstrate a profound impact in advancing educational equity in New Jersey and beyond.”

“We are grateful to Mr. Charles DeMarzo, his family, and his trustee Mr. Donald Bovee for this gift because empowering historically underserved communities is critical to addressing major world issues,” said GSE Interim Dean Clark Chinn, “and this endowed chair will empower GSE faculty to further our mission of Advancing Excellence and Equity in Education.”

A New Jersey native, Charles A. DeMarzo graduated from the Rutgers School of Business in 1949. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Air Force for four years. Later, his career in sales led him to call California his home, and he retired there as vice president of sales and marketing for Lab Industries.

He resided in San Francisco with his partner Keith N. Lamb for over 40 years. They traveled extensively on frequent trips abroad and were noted for their dinner and cocktail parties in a magnificently restored Pacific Heights mansion they saved from the wrecking ball.

Mr. DeMarzo was also active in many charitable fundraising efforts and civic projects. Among his philan-thropic interests were the American Cancer Society, Food For Thought, World Wildlife Fund, and the National Hospice Organization. To honor the memory of his parents, Charles DeMarzo also established the Rose and Nicholas DeMarzo Chair in Education at Rutgers GSE. He died in 2006.