Center for Disability Services presents major gift to Maria College
ALBANY, N.Y. » The Center for Disability Services recently presented Maria College with a check for $50,000 to endow a scholarship to be named after the late Eunice Antonucci. The scholarship will be used to support healthcare education at the College.
Antonucci, was a Registered Nurse at Cohoes Hospital, Chair of the Health Planning Commission for the City of Cohoes, and owner and operator of Smiths Restaurant on Remsen Street of Cohoes. Eunice founded the first group home in Cohoes for developmentally disabled consumers. Until her death on May 13, she remained a member of the executive board of the Center for Disability Services.
Center for Disability Services President and CEO Gregory Sorrentino presented the check to Maria College leadership in the presence of the family of Antonucci and special guest NYS Assemblymember John T. McDonald III, RPh.
“Eunice Antonucci was an individual who spent much of her life helping other people,” said Sorrentino. “Eunice, a leader in her community, and a leader in the field of disability services, used her leadership ability to improve the lives of many people and inspired so many of us to continue to follow her path of helping others and improving the communities we live and work within. Through this scholarship with Maria College, we will continue in perpetuity Eunice’s legacy of helping and improving the lives of others by assisting Center for Disability Services staff members to further their education at Maria College, improve their future opportunities and improve the lives of the individuals we support.”
“On behalf of Maria College and the Board of Trustees, I want to sincerely thank the Center for Disability Services and the family of Eunice Antonucci for this incredibly generous gift to help support our programs in healthcare. It is our mission at Maria College to graduate students that respect the dignity of all human lives, and Eunice certainly embodied that mission throughout her life,” Maria College President Thomas J. Gamble, PhD, remarked.
“Eunice Antonucci had a long history of generous and far-reaching support for the healthcare community with a special emphasis on people with developmental disabilities. This gift brings the potential of altering the lives of students in our region who want to follow in her footsteps and enter the incredibly important field of nursing. Thank you to the Center for Disability Services and the Antonucci Family for providing this generous scholarship,” McDonald III, RPh added.