The University of West Florida in Pensacola has announced an estate gift valued at more than $8.5 million from the late Herman and Valerie Rolfs in support of the School of Music.

The gift includes an Imperial Bösendorfer piano, which Rolfs purchased a month before his death in August 2020 to honor Valerie, who died the previous November. The majority of the gift will establish a needs-based scholarship endowment for students in the School of Music and members of the Argo Athletic Band, while the remaining funds will enable the school to fulfill its five-year plan and work toward long-term goals of establishing a symphony orchestra, an opera program, an expanded concert series, and a graduate program. In recognition of the gift, the school will be named in honor of Grier Williams, the first chair of UWF's music department, and to recognize the couple's years of support, the music hall in the UWF Center for Fine and Performing Arts has been named Rolfs Music Hall.

Herman was a pioneering nuclear radiologist and Valerie was a nurse and nursing professor. The couple enjoyed collecting musical albums while traveling, attending classical music concerts, and organizing music performances for their family, friends, and church.

"The Rolfs' passion for music and their transformational gift to UWF will establish the Dr. Grier Williams School of Music as a destination program that will benefit and inspire young musicians from Pensacola, the surrounding region, and beyond for generations to come," said Sheila Dunn, professor and director of the school of music. "The joy that music brought them will be shared with our community forever."