August 29, 2011

Challenge grant issued for Pitcairn Scholarship Fund

Stephen Pitcairn, the Johns Hopkins research technologist who was robbed and killed in July 2010 as he walked home from Penn Station, would have turned 25 on July 27, 2011, and in recognition of this milestone, a $10,000 challenge grant has been offered to the Stephen Pitcairn Memorial Scholarship Fund at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

The Challenge Fund will match gifts of $100 or more, made from now until Labor Day. All contributions will help reach the $100,000 required to endow the scholarship, allowing the school to carry on Pitcairn’s legacy in perpetuity.

To donate to the fund, go to www.giving.jhu.edu/online and specify Stephen Pitcairn Scholarship in the “Other” section.

Pitcairn, a graduate of Kalamazoo College, joined the laboratory of Gregg Semenza in June 2009 as a lab technician and was promoted to research technologist a year later. He was in the process of applying to medical school at the time of his death.

A memorial plaque installed outside the Ross Research Building on the East Baltimore campus says, “His endless enthusiasm and kindness will not be forgotten by those whose lives he touched.”

On Aug. 17, John Wagner was found guilty of first-degree murder and armed robbery in the stabbing of Pitcairn. His sentencing is set for Oct. 21.