Niagara University in Lewiston, New York, has announced a gift of $875,000 from E. John and Jeanne C. Finn to bolster a scholarship fund for students in its nursing program.

The gift will boost the endowment of the Jerome Patrick and Alice Conley Corcoran Scholarship fund to more than $1 million. The scholarship program benefits financially needy students from central and western New York who plan to enroll in Niagara's School of Nursing. The Finns established the fund in 1997 in memory of Jeanne Finn's parents. To date, more than fifty students have received a Corcoran scholarship.

John Finn, a retired business executive, served as a Niagara University trustee from 1983 to 2002, was named a trustee emeritus in 2003, and was presented with an honorary doctorate in 1987. Jeanne Finn, like her husband, completed her undergraduate studies at Carnegie Mellon University before earning a graduate degree in education from Niagara in 1971. She later founded and served as director of the Fantastico Tutorial program, a volunteer effort that provides academic assistance and language instruction to children and teenagers in the disadvantaged Hill Section of New Haven, Connecticut.

"We are extremely appreciative of Jack and Jeanne Finn's continued support of Niagara University, which serves as an enduring tribute to Jeanne's parents and a powerful testament to the excellence of our nursing programs," said Niagara University president Rev. James J. Maher. "Thanks to the generosity of the Finns, more students will have an opportunity to be connected with the Vincentian spirit and our acclaimed School of Nursing, thus inspiring them to be lifelong caregivers of people in need, especially to those in our nearby communities."