Five Outstanding Performing/Theatre Arts Students Receive Bernie G. Yvon Scholarships for 2020-2021
Jacksonville, Florida — In its fifth year of helping aspiring performers, the Bernie G. Yvon Memorial Fund at The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida is awarding scholarships to five performing/theatre arts students for their collegiate studies. The parents of Bernie G. Yvon, a beloved Chicago-area actor who passed away in 2014, established The Bernie G. Yvon Memorial Fund in 2015 and it has been supported by donations from Bernie’s friends and colleagues. To date, 24 students have had a helping hand from the Bernie G. Yvon Memorial Fund since it began.
Awards of $500 each have been presented to these outstanding performing/theatre arts students for the 2020-2021 school year:
SYLVIA MUCHMORE of St. Johns, FL -- Taylor University in Upland, IN
JACOB EPSTEIN of Pittsburgh, PA -- Emerson College in Boston, MA
EMMET SMITH of New York, NY -- Northwestern University in Evanston, IL
DYLAN LUGOSI of Palm Beach Gardens, FL -- Penn State University in University Park, PA
CHRISTIAN ENGLEHARDT of Graysdale, IL -- Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA
“Especially this year, these dedicated and ambitious young performers need the financial support to make their dreams come true,” commented his father, Professor Bernard Rene Yvon. “Bernie would have wanted them to have the same opportunity for a happy life that he had, and we believe this will help them achieve that goal.”
The Bernie G. Yvon Memorial Fund makes scholarships annually in Bernie’s memory; to donate to the fund, please go to www.jaxcf.org/donate, type Yvon in the search box and follow the instructions.
About Bernie G. Yvon (1964-2014)
Bernie was raised in Old Town, Maine and after graduation from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, quickly became a fixture in Chicago-area live theater. For three decades, he was the consummate song-and-dance man, performing in such classics as Cabaret, Mary Poppins, The Music Man, and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The majority of his career was in Chicago, but he played the role of Harry Houdini in the national tour of Ragtime, and also worked on Broadway and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.
About The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida
The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida (www.jaxcf.org), Florida’s oldest and largest community foundation, works to stimulate philanthropy to build a better community. The Foundation helps donors invest their philanthropic gifts wisely, helps nonprofits serve the region effectively, and helps people come together to make the community a better place. Now in its 55th year, the Foundation has assets of $384 million and has made $500 million in grants since 1964.