Couple donate nearly $1.1 million to Rowan

Larry Salva worked at a convenience store and an accounting firm to help pay his way through Glassboro State College. He also received federal aid for students with financial need.

Thirty-five years later, Salva is giving back to the school - renamed Rowan University - in a big way.

The Comcast senior vice president and his wife, Rita, of Princeton, have pledged nearly $1.1 million to the Rowan University Foundation to establish a scholarship fund for students at the Cooper Medical School of Rowan University.

The pledge represents the largest single gift to date for the Camden medical school, which will open in August, and the largest single onetime gift ever made to Rowan University by an alumnus.

"In college, I was fortunate enough to receive federal funding to support my studies," Salva said. "And I was mentored by a lot of good people. I feel an obligation to return the favor and provide support."

The couple's gift will establish a $1 million endowment, the Lawrence and Rita Salva Medical Scholars Fund at Rowan, to benefit future medical students at the school. An additional $55,000 - and the earnings on the endowment - will support $100,000 in scholarships for the school's charter class.

"The debt numbers for medical school students are just so compelling," said Larry Salva, who graduated from Glassboro summa cum laude with a bachelor of arts degree in business in 1977.

"We're absolutely excited about the medical school and the promise it holds for South Jersey," he said. "This scholarship fund gives us a tremendous opportunity to help medical school students pursue their dreams as they work to make a positive impact on the lives of others."

At a news conference Monday on Rowan's Glassboro campus, Salva said he hoped to encourage the medical school's graduates to "to stay in the South Jersey area."

More than three decades ago, Salva - who grew up in Clifton, Passaic County - was business manager for WGLS-FM, the Glassboro campus radio station. He also served as the treasurer of the Student Government Association and belonged to the Student Financial Control Board.

Glassboro State was renamed Rowan College of New Jersey in 1992 after Henry Rowan and his wife, Betty, provided $100 million to the school. At the time, the gift was the largest ever given to a public college.

The college became Rowan University in 1997 after winning approval for university status from the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education.

Salva's career took off after graduation. He became a partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers and served as a professional accounting fellow with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

In 2000, Salva joined Comcast, where he is senior vice president, chief accounting officer and controller. Rita Salva, a registered dental hygienist and certified dental assistant, is an adjunct faculty member at Middlesex County College in Edison and Burlington County College in Pemberton.

"I thought it was wonderful when he told me about the medical school funding," Rita Salva said during the news conference.

The gift was not the first from Lawrence Salva, who joined the board of the Rowan University Foundation in 2000 and is its vice chairman. Salva pledged $100,000 to the foundation to establish the Salva Family Scholarship Fund in 2002 and added $25,000 in 2007.

The medical school received a $300,000 gift in February from Dr. Ludwig Schlitt and his children, Drs. Michael, Stephanie, and Mark Schlitt of Advocate Haddon Pediatric Group in Haddon Heights.

Last year, another contribution from Dr. Michael Renzi, a Haddonfield physician, and his family established the Renzi Family Clinical Simulation Rooms at the school.

And in 2009, a Glassboro alumnus, Dr. Marque Allen and his wife, Yvette, pledged $100,000 to establish the Dr. Richard Meagher Medical Scholarship, named in honor of a retired biological sciences professor at the school.

The Salvas' most recent gift will provide funds for three four-year scholarships: for needy students who attended public school in South Jersey; for others who come from "traditionally disadvantaged backgrounds"; and still others who have performed more than 200 hours of volunteer service.

Scholarship support "increases the likelihood that New Jersey students will stay in the region to attend medical school and ultimately practice and become the kind of providers the state desperately needs," said Paul Katz, founding dean at the medical school, which received nearly 3,000 applications for 50 spots in the medical school's charter class.

"Since many of our accepted students have been accepted by other medical schools, offering them financial assistance is critical for us as we look to attract the most highly qualified students who match our mission and who need financial assistance to attend our school," Katz said.