WHO CAN APPLY

Graduates of Wahconah Regional High School or a vocational-technical program of a public high school who are enrolled in or planning to enroll in post graduate studies at an accredited college or university for post-graduate studies.

SCHOLARSHIP INFORMATION

Winthrop Murray Crane, Jr. (1881-1968) was a great grandson of Zenas Crane, founder of Crane & Co. Immediately after his graduation from Yale College in 1909, and serving in the Army in W.W. I, attaining the rank of Lt. Col., he began working in the family paper mills. He rose to the position of President in 1923 and successfully navigated the company through the Great Depression of the 1930’s, the material and manpower shortages of W.W. II and the technological explosion of the immediate postwar years. He retired as President in 1951, at which time he was elected to the newly-created position of Chairman of the Board. He remained in that post until his death in 1968.

Mr. Crane served on the boards of directors of several companies in the Berkshires and the Northeast. He was a supporter and benefactor of many organizations in the Berkshires and his town of Dalton. He was Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Miss Hall’s School in Pittsfield.

In 1965 he established a Fund for the purpose of aiding students in the pursuit of graduate education after graduating from Wahconah Regional High School and an accredited 4-year college. Subsequently this Fund was augmented by gifts from his children, Barbara Crane Monaghan and Winthrop Murray Crane III.

In 2008, the fund became a constituent fund of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation.

In establishing the fund, the trustees noted: “The students must be so situated as to need financial assistance. General character and all around ability as against scholarship alone shall be the basis of award. It must clearly appear that the education sought will advantage the student.”