Patricia Keane DeGeorge Memorial Scholarship Fund

Patricia Keane DeGeorge Memorial Scholarship
Awarded to Monica Mena and Michael Schwartz

Megan Keane (center), her brother Robby (left), sister Erin (in front of her), and cousince Jackson and Leila Keane with 2017 scholarship recipients Monica Mena and Michael Schwartz.

The Patricia Keane DeGeorge Memorial Scholarship was established at Adelphi University in 2002 by Kathy and Bob Keane in memory of their daughter Patricia, a registered nurse and graduate of the Adelphi University School of Nursing.

The fund provides scholarship support to one or more non-traditional students with a grade point average of 3.0 or above working towards an undergraduate degree in Adelphi University's College of Nursing and Public Health.

Patty, who grew up on Long Island, was a graduate of Massapequa High School and Nassau Community College. She was in her mid-20s when she returned to college to become a nurse. Midway through the program she was diagnosed with leukemia. Patty never gave up, continued her studies and graduated Adelphi magna cum laude in 1998, all the while in treatment. She received word that she had passed her nursing boards the day she was readmitted to the hospital to undergo a bone marrow transplant. We lost her just days after her 30th birthday.

The recipient of the Patricia Keane DeGeorge Memorial Scholarship must be a returning student — a person who has decided to return to college to pursue a nursing degree, as Patty had. The applicant must have at least a 3.0 GPA. The program is administered by Adelphi University.

Over the years we have raised money to grow the scholarship fund in various ways. This year we stepped it up, entering a team of 24 — Patty’s Pacers — in the Suffolk Marathon. The links to the left will also take you to pictures of family and friends at many of the Patricia Keane DeGeorge Golf Outings.

Our work is not done. The need for well educated, caring, dedicated nurses has never been greater. The cost of a college education continues to rise. And the number of students in the nursing program continues to grow — there were 67 students in Patricia’s graduating class in 1998, and approximately 200 in the class of 2017.

Our goal is to provide more help to more students each year.

If you wish to contribute to the fund to help the Keane family to honor Patty's memory and to help other nursing students achieve their dreams, please contact Rob Keane.

Tax-deductible gifts to the endowment payable to the Patricia Keane DeGeorge Memorial Scholarship may also be sent to the following address:

Adelphi University
Office of University Advancement
NEXUS Building, Suite 200
Garden City, NY 11530

Thank you for your generosity.

Robert F Keane