MORGANTOWN – Charleston attorney Thomas V. Flaherty has been honored for his contributions with a scholarship in his name at the West Virginia University College of Law.
The scholarship, endowed by the BrickStreet Foundation, was unveiled at the WVU’s Board of Governor’s meeting in late October.
“I’m extremely pleased and gratified to have the scholarship endowed in my name,” Flaherty told The West Virginia Record. “I’m very humbled and very grateful for what Brickstreet has done.”
The endowment, a $100,000 gift, was announced by W. Marston Becker, a member of both the BrickStreet and WVU boards.
Like Becker, Flaherty is a member of both boards. He also is immediate past chairman of the BrickStreet board and immediate past president of the WVU board.
“The gift is modest recognition of all that Tom has contributed to both boards,” Becker said in WVU Today.
Flaherty said he believes he was selected for the honor because he’s been a member of the board of directors at BrickStreet since the company’s inception 11 years ago and for his service as chairman the board of directors of BrickStreet from 2009 through April of this year.
“I’ve served on the WVU Board of Governors for the last eight years and was also chair of the WVU Board of Governors for the last two years,” he explained. “Obviously, I’ve devoted a significant amount of time and attention to both BrickStreet and WVU. It’s my understanding that The BrickStreet Foundation wanted to recognize those efforts.”
Greg Burton, BrickStreet executive chairman, said he has been honored to work alongside Flaherty over the last decade.
“This gift announced today is a way to honor a great West Virginian who has given so much of his time and effort to make a significant difference both at BrickStreet and WVU,” he told WVU Today.
The endowment also is in conjunction with the WVU Foundation’s upcoming Day of Giving, a 24-hour online fundraising campaign undertaken as a simple way for University supporters to contribute to the Foundation’s “State of Minds” Campaign.
For Flaherty, old gold and blue run through his veins and West Virginia University holds a special place for him.
“It literally transformed me and my life,” he said. “In recognition of this year’s 150th anniversary of WVU founding in 1867, there is an ad campaign that uses the phrase ‘150 years of transforming lives." I can’t speak to the first hundred years, but I could be the poster child for the last 50.”
Flaherty explained that he arrived in Morgantown at 17, a newly minted high school graduate. With little money and poor study habits, he had no vision for the path he hoped to follow.
“WVU transformed me and the education I received there is responsible for who and what I’ve become in life and all that I’ve accomplished,” he said.
And now the scholarship may pave the way for another youngster, arriving at the WVU campus much like Flaherty did a half century ago.
“Hopefully, this scholarship will play a part in also transforming the lives of others and will help future students defray the costs of law school by avoiding the necessity of incurring debt through student loans,” he concluded.