Bucks County couple will fund 100 scholarships for local community college students

A Bucks County couple who have been longtime donors to the local community college have given $200,000 to the school to fund full scholarships for 100 students with financial need.

“It’s incumbent on everybody to stop thinking about yourself,” said Gene Epstein, 84, who made his money in the automobile and real estate businesses. “If you really want to feel great, do something to help someone.”

Epstein and his wife, Marlene, will be at Bucks County Community College on Thursday for presentation of the check. It is meant for students from Lower Bucks County and will cover the students’ costs, including tuition and books, after other financial aid is applied, the college said. Annual tuition for full-time students is about $6,000. Students will be funded for two years, the time it would take to achieve their associate’s degree.

The Epsteins have been one of the college’s top donors over the years, and the school’s Bristol campus is named after them, said Christina Kahmar, interim associate vice president for advancement at the college, which enrolls more than 7,000 students.

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“This scholarship is really made to remove barriers for students who think they can’t afford college,” Kahmar said.

The college will announce the recipients by the start of the fall semester, which begins Aug. 23. Students who want to be considered must apply for admission at bucks.edu and complete a FAFSA application for financial aid, the college said.

Epstein said they chose to donate to the Bucks college because they have watched it grow over the decades and their two children both attended. One teaches at Lehigh University and the other went into the commercial real estate business, he said.

“It gave them an education that they were able to afford,” he said. “The college was a great place to start.”

Epstein said he learned his early lessons in life from his grandparents, who preached “learn, earn and return.” His grandparents ran a candy store in North Philadelphia and he worked there when he was as young as 5. His grandparents gave to the local church, though they didn’t have much money themselves, he said.

His grandmother, he said, stated: “When we have enough to put food on the table for ourselves and pay our bills, we have an obligation to help other people,” he said. “That’s what stuck with me all my life.”

He got into the car business and was the first Mazda dealer in the Northeast in 1972, he said. He later went into commercial real estate, and he has written three books, the first called Lemon Juice: The confessions of a used car dealer — a Metamorphosis.

In 2010, he gained national recognition when he came up with a way to jumpstart the economy. He offered to put up $250,000 and donate $1,000 to a charity for every job created by businesses.

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Over the years, Epstein said, he has collected antique cars, among them Elvis Presley’s 1969 Mercedes-Benz and Roy Orbison’s Mercedes-Benz. He sold them about a year and a half ago to raise money to donate to the college, Project Home, food banks, and other organizations with needs, he said.

He and his wife, meanwhile, are happy driving their 13-year-old Lexus sedan with 190,000 miles, keeping a container of oil in the trunk to use as needed, he said.

“My feeling was I could look at my cars and enjoy them and take them for an occasional ride,” he said. “But over the long haul, their best value was to help out those who are the neediest.”