Alumna Mary Kosinski Honors Her Mentor With Bequest

Professor and Director of the School of Accountancy & MIS Ray Whittington; Mary Kosinski; and Business Professor Emeritus Harold Welsch, husband of Gemma Michelini Welsch

Mary Kosinski (BUS ’82), a first-generation college student, was awarded a scholarship by DePaul to attend its business school. By the time she graduated, she had passed the CPA exam and been offered a job in accounting. Grateful for DePaul’s support of underserved students and for the education that launched her career, Mary is making a gift through her will to establish a scholarship in the Richard H. Driehaus College of Business.

“I would not have been able to go to school without that scholarship,” says Mary, who has been an accountant for almost 40 years and currently works for the State of Illinois. “I have always been awed by DePaul’s commitment to diversity and providing opportunities to those from underserved communities. This has been its mission, its Vincentian mission.

“I wanted to make sure when I did my estate planning that I included DePaul,” she adds.

A bequest through one’s will is a way for donors to give much more than they could during their lifetime.

Mary’s gift will establish a scholarship in the name of one of her favorite professors at DePaul: Gemma Michelini Welsch, a pioneering professor of accountancy who helped found the university’s management information systems program. She taught at the school for more than 30 years before her passing in 2005.

“Accounting can be kind of dry, but she was a dynamic teacher,” Mary recalls. “Back then, she was one of the few women accounting professors. Things were starting to expand in terms of women in the field, and it was an exciting time to be starting my career. She was my mentor, and I will always be grateful to her and to DePaul.”

A Gift From the Heart

Learn about ways that you, like Mary, can honor someone special through your giving by contacting Richard S. Goode, JD at (312) 362-8605 or plannedgiving@depaul.edu.