Programs and Activities
Founders Fund

TGF Founder's Scholars

2006 MS. Jessica Steinberg- JD Environmental Law & Policy- Pace University

2007 Dr. Jessica Rogers - Phd. Evolutionary Biology-Columbia University

2008 Ms. Andrea Caruso - MS Conservation Biology-Fordham University

2009 Ms. Meridith Van Horn - JD Environmetal Law - Pace University

TGF Founders Fund Committee Report - 2009

By: James C. Aker, VP & Karen Kaplan, VP Co-Chairpersons

Founders Fund Committee

Theodore Gordon Flyfishers celebrates its 46th year of cold water fisheries protection and conservation excellence in 2009. Founded on the principles of the American fly-fishing tradition, TGF dedicates itself to conservation and protection of cold water fisheries, education of youth in an environmentally responsible philosophy, and, acting as citizen activists, to monitor the watersheds of the tri-state area. It was with these principles at the vanguard that our founders began Theodore Gordon Flyfishers 46 years ago.

In 2005 our Board of Directors took up the question of how best to honor our founders and their devotion to these principles. It was proposed that we connect their names with an educational effort to bring more young people into the challenging work of environmental conservation and protection. Upon the recommendation of this committee the Board of Directors approved a special fund from which TGF could fund scholarships, endowments, and grants to outstanding students of the environmental sciences and arts in the New York area. It was named The TGF Founders Fund and carried the 21 names of the 1963 charter members of TGF. The Board resolved the program would offer an annual academic merit scholarship of $2000 to an exceptional student in either an undergraduate baccalaureate curriculum or a graduate program of study. That core curriculum would be in an environmental program of study such as, but not limited to, cold water fisheries management, environmental law, fishery conservation, aquatic biology, conservation biology and so on. The scholarship would be offered only if a candidate is found that meets the academic criteria and level of excellence acquiesced to by the Board at the time the award was approved.

Since 2005, TGF has partnered with The Environmental Consortium of Hudson Valley Colleges & Universities to develop a pool of institutions to which TGF can offer this scholarship. The Consortium, founded in 2004, is comprised of fifty-one institutions of higher education in the Hudson Valley region. Its mission is to help shape the future of the regional and global environment through collaboration, education, and research.

In 2006 The Founders Fund Committee selected from a field of outstanding applicants, a Juris Doctoral candidate specializing in Environmental Law and Policy. Our first Founder's Scholar Ms. Jessica A. Steinberg, a Juris Doctor candidate from Pace University, has indeed fulfilled our faith in her abilities. Now graduated, Ms. Steinberg practices her profession at one of the most prestigious environmental law firms in New York.

In March of 2007, the Founder’s Fund Committee, with the Director of the Consortium, selected now Dr. Jessica Rogers as the Fund’s second annual Founders Fund Scholar and recipient of the award. Dr. Rogers, a graduate of Princeton University and a doctoral candidate at Columbia University, has graduated with a Phd. in Evolutionary Biology and Ecology.

In 2008 the committee chose Ms. Andrea Caruso as Founder's Scholar. Ms. Caruso was about to enter into the Masters program at Fordham University majoring in Conservation Biology with a specialization in the study of invasive species. Once again we wish Ms. Caruso good fortune in her chosen field and look forward to excellent reports on her progress.

In May of 2009, David Kramer and Terry McCartney, two stalwarts of TGF, generously announced that they would donate $1000 each to the Founder’s Fund . Through the largesse of our members, the fund now carries a balance of $9,338. The board has voted to increase the yearly amount of the TGF Founders Scholarship to $3500 this year with an eye towards, depending upon the generosity of the membership, offering a $5000 award at some point in the future.

The 2009 scholarship application period opened in December of 2008 and closed on April 1st of 2009. Efforts to notify a large student population of the TGF Scholarship have included web announcements to the Consortium listserv, the student listserv, Financial Aid Officers, the Honor Societies of all fifty-one member institutions of the Consortium, the Honor Colleges and Programs of all 51 members and all 19 Consortium Steering Committee members.

This year's TGF Founder's Scholar is a Juris Doctoral candidate at Pace University Law School. After careful consideration of a wide field of outstanding applicants, Ms. Meredith P. Van Horn was chosen as the 2009 TGF Founder's Scholar. Ms. Van Horn has an outstanding academic record and practical experience. She has that passion for environmentalism that is so necessary to a top performer in the field of environmental law. Announcement of the 2009 recipient was made in May of this year and the Scholarship will be awarded at the 7th Annual Conservation Fund Dinner in September of 2009. Ms. Van Horn of White Plains, New York joins Ms. Jessica Steinberg, Dr. Jessica Rogers and Ms Andrea Caruso in what we hope will one day be an assemblage of the best minds in the environmental arts and sciences working to protect and preserve our natural habitat in the greater New York area.

Going forward, it is the hope of the Founders Fund Committee that the TGF Founders Fund, with the financial help of the membership and other parties, can expand to offer grants to environmental scientists and aquatic biologists currently working in the field as well as endowments to institutions. In this fashion we trust that TGF will yet again promote the cause of a clean and healthy environment in which trout and other species will flourish.


Please remember that the TGF Founders Fund is a member supported program and that all donations to TGF are in some part tax deductible. Without your generous support, the Founders Fund Scholarship program would not be possible so please give what you are able to give to this worthy program. A donation to the Founders Fund is an investment in the future of conservation.