DePaul University receives $21 million for scholarships, homelessness institute

DePaul alumnus George L. Ruff and his wife, Tanya S. Ruff, have made gifts to the university totaling $21 million to support scholarships and DePaul’s Institute of Global Homelessness. Image by Tom Evans courtesy of George and Tanya Ruff
DePaul alumnus George L. Ruff and his wife, Tanya S. Ruff, have made gifts to the university totaling $21 million to support scholarships and DePaul’s Institute of Global Homelessness. Image by Tom Evans courtesy of George and Tanya Ruff

DePaul University receives $21 million for scholarships, homelessness institute

DePaul University alumnus George L. Ruff and his
wife, Tanya S. Ruff, have made estate and monetary
gifts to the university totaling $21 million to support
scholarships and DePaul’s Institute of Global Homelessness.
In recognition of the gift, the institute will be
renamed the George and Tanya Ruff Institute of Global
Homelessness.
     “George and Tanya Ruff are extremely generous
individuals who are devoted to our university and the
Vincentian mission we all hold dear,” said DePaul President
A. Gabriel Esteban, Ph.D. “On behalf of DePaul,
I am extremely grateful to George and Tanya for their
transformational gift. It will benefit our students and the
larger community for many decades to come.”
     A 1974 graduate of DePaul’s Driehaus College of
Business, Mr. Ruff is senior principal of Trinity Hotel
Investors LLC and a member of DePaul’s School of Hospitality
Leadership Advisory Board and Philanthropy
Committee. He helped establish the Real Estate Center
in the Richard H. Driehaus College of Business. The
Ruffs have also contributed to the College of Business
through the George L. Ruff Endowed Scholarship in
Hospitality Leadership, the Coleman Entrepreneurship
Center Endowment and the George L. Ruff Endowed
Chair in Real Estate.
     Mrs. Ruff has been an important partner in this work
and a dedicated advocate for DePaul. The couple has honored
DePaul’s Vincentian mission by contributing to the
Holtschneider Chair in Vincentian Studies, representing
DePaul overseas, and participating in numerous campus
activities in support of students.
 Scholarship supports DePaul students
     The George L. and Tanya S. Ruff Endowed Scholarship
that will be created with this new gift is designed to benefit
low-income students, students of color, first-generation
college students and current members or veterans of the
United States armed services.
     The Ruffs have made part of the scholarship funds
available immediately to support Now We Must: The
Campaign for DePaul’s Students, an ambitious fundraising
initiative that aims to help students through the
hardships of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mr. Ruff serves on
the Now We Must campaign committee.
     To encourage others to help students, the Ruffs have
issued the “Double Your Impact” Ruff Scholarship
Challenge, which is running now through Dec. 31,
2021. During this time, the Ruffs will match any gift
of $50,000 or more, up to $750,000, to create a new
endowed scholarship for low-income students, students
of color, first-generation students or active military and
veteran students.
Gift supports work to end street homelessness
     Homelessness also became a cause the couple took to
heart, particularly upon meeting Mark McGreevy, one
of the founders of the Institute of Global Homelessness
at DePaul. “I became very interested in trying to do
something about the homelessness situation I was seeing
unfold across the nation and around the world,” Ruff
said. “Ending homelessness is something Tanya and I are
interested in being a part of and are happy to lend our
names to.”
     Funds designated to the George and Tanya Ruff
Institute of Global Homelessness can be used immediately
and in perpetuity to promote efforts to alleviate the
suffering of those experiencing housing insecurity, with
the goal of ending street homelessness through research,
global cooperation and direct action.
     McGreevy is group chief executive of Depaul International,
the London-based international nonprofit that
coordinates with the Ruff Institute of Global Homelessness
and other affiliates in several countries. “The Ruffs’
most recent commitment to the cause of ending global
homelessness is characteristic of their extraordinary
generosity and devotion to the Vincentian mission of De-
Paul University. They were there in the early days of the
Institute, and their involvement will continue to inspire
our movement going forward,” McGreevy said.

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