The Jon Breen Fund
c/o Mount Vernon High School
100 California Road
Mount Vernon, NY 10550
February 4, 2010
Dear Classmates and friends,
The Jon Breen Fund was established to honor the memory of Jon Breen, who passed away in 1993. Jon was an outstanding member of the MVHS/Davis Class of 1963. He was a graduate of Dartmouth College, Harvard Law School and a Fulbright Scholar. He was the president of our class, and was an accomplished essayist. After his death, I established the Jon Breen Fund, which has sponsored essays on public policy themes. Over the past sixteen years, the Fund has raised over $30,000, and has given out annual scholarships in his name to essayists. The Fund also awards history prizes in the name of the late Dr. Henry M. Littlefield, a beloved teacher and coach, who had a remarkable presence at Mount Vernon and Davis High School for 10 years.
Recently the Mount Vernon community experienced the tragic loss of George Bochow. The Bochow family has been an essential part of the city for three generations. George’s father was a renowned and beloved doctor who had served that community for over 40 years and George’s nephew Brian is the youngest Commissioner in the city’s long history.
I had the pleasure of knowing George and playing baseball with him in our days at MVHS/Davis. He always exhibited the highest level of sportsmanship and skills and served as a model and inspiration to many of his teammates. George, a member of the Class of 1964, was a leader in his class and a role model for all who knew him. George went on, after a successful academic and athletic career at MVHS to star as an All-American on NYU’s baseball team. He also was a member of the United States Olympic Baseball Team that participated in Mexico City as an experimental sport at the 1968 Olympic Games.
Because of George’s legacy as a great baseball player, I thought it was appropriate to create a baseball award and scholarship in his name. Since announcing the idea for a baseball prize in George’s name, the Fund has raised over $1100. Along with the remaining balance in the Jon Breen Fund, these monies will be pooled, and the Fund will continue giving out its annual awards to seniors at Mount Vernon High School. I was able to meet with MVHS’s fine baseball coach, Walter Allen yesterday, and we discussed the criteria for the George Bochow Baseball Award. The parameters will be the following: senior designees who have combined statistical achievement with sportsmanship and leadership. There will be a select committee, along with the baseball coaches, Walter Allen and John Brogan, who will vote on who will be the recipient. If you, or your friends, or classmates wish to help with this fund-raising effort, please contact me or have them send their check to the Jon Breen Fund c/o George Bochow to the above MVHS address, in care of Ms. Vera Glazewski.
Thank you and regards,
Richard J. Garfunkel