Former AC Business Owners Donate $150,000 to Establish Scholarship
From left: Dan Nugent; Terricita Sass, Stockton University executive vice president and chief of staff; Anthony and Rita Mack; and Joe Bertolino. PHOTO: Lizzie Nealis/Stockton University
Anthony and Rita Mack have created a new $150,000 endowed scholarship benefiting undergraduate Stockton students through the A&R Mack Foundation. In a ceremony held July 15 on Stockton’s Galloway campus, the two shared their commitment to education and their motivations for creating the new scholarship.
“I went through four years, and I got to the last semester, and I ran out of money,” said Anthony Mack, a former Stockton University Foundation board member. “I went in and talked to the dean, and they got me a scholarship. That’s the only thing that got me through. I’m very sympathetic when kids want to go to school, but they don’t have the resources.”
“I thought now is the right time to consider making a pathway for those who want to go to a four-year college,” Rita Mack said. “We’ve just had tremendous community support for our businesses, and we felt we owe the community much more than we could ever give back.”
The Macks have lived in the Atlantic City area for 39 years and previously owned McDonald’s restaurants in the city—one on Arkansas Avenue in The Walk Tanger Outlets and the other on Albany Avenue just down the road from Stockton’s Atlantic City campus.
Stockton President Joe Bertolino thanked the Macks for their generosity and support at a critical time for higher education students.
“These are important times for our students, particularly as our population continues to shift and the need continues to grow,” Bertolino said.
Stockton Foundation Executive Director Dan Nugent also thanked the Macks for their donation to create the A&R Mack Foundation Endowed Scholarship and for their service on the Foundation Board of Directors.
“We raise money for lots of different initiatives, but we’ve always said the scholarship program is the heart and soul of the Stockton Foundation,” said Nugent, who’s also Stockton’s vice president for University Advancement. “We know that when people who have such strong ties to the institution and community are generous in this way, that inspires others to do the same.”
The Macks have a long history of generosity in the community as they’ve been strong advocates of McDonald’s Archways to Opportunity Scholarship Program, the NAACP and the Boys and Girls Club of Atlantic City, among other charitable organizations.
For more information about the Foundation and how to support students, visit stockton.edu/foundation.
