Joe R. and Elizabeth Engle of New York City have made a leadership gift of $10 million to Ohio State to establish The Joe R. and Elizabeth Engle Scholarship Fund. The fund will provide multiple scholarships for incoming first-year undergraduate students with the highest academic ability and greatest financial need. These students must have attended Coshocton High School, River View High School or Ridgewood High School in Coshocton County and be enrolling at Ohio State’s main campus. Preference will be given to students who are the first generation in their families to attend a university.

Joe, a 1939 graduate of Coshocton High School, seeks to give students an opportunity that he did not have. At the time he was entering college, the Depression was ending and his family’s financial resources limited his academic opportunities.

“Ohio State was the only school I could afford. However, it provided the window through which a small town lad could see what the world offered,” Joe said. “Today, Coshocton County high school graduates have far greater and more exciting choices.”

Joe graduated from Ohio State in 1943 with a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering. He served in the U.S. Navy as an engineering officer during World War II, then worked as a sales representative for Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. In 1950, after earning an MBA from Harvard Business School, he started the J.R. Engle Company, which represented manufacturers in Ohio and adjoining areas for the sale of engineered component parts to original equipment manufacturers such as auto or major appliance companies. In 1955, he co-founded Loctite Corporation in Hartford, Conn., a specialty chemical manufacturer of adhesives and sealants that was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1976. That year he also established an endowment at the OSU Medical Center.

In 1995 the Engle Designated Chair in the History of Christianity in the College of Humanities was established. Professor Joseph Lynch is the first and current occupant of the chair. The Engles hope to ease the financial burden of obtaining an education for many families in need.

“Coshocton County has suffered a serious loss of jobs in recent years. I am convinced there are students living there, just as in my era, who could and can handle the intellectual demands of college courses,” Joe explained. “What they need is the chance, and my wife and I wish to help in this endeavor.”

Joe and Elizabeth are particularly interested in helping the most academically qualified students who have considerable financial need.

“We wish to make it possible for students to graduate from college without the worry about student loans and educational debt,” he added. “In this way, students are free to choose careers that may make an impact on society and, therefore, make this world a better place for all of us. Without assistance, some students might pursue higher paying jobs solely to pay off their debts after graduation.”

A third goal for their gift is to inspire and encourage students as early as middle school to plan for college knowing that some financial assistance is available.

“Good jobs in America today demand a higher level of education since many manufacturing jobs have been eliminated by technology or transferred to lower wage countries,” Joe said. “The service industry, with its demand for more education, accounts for possibly 75 percent of all jobs.”

Wall Street Journal Online subscribers can log on to wsj.com to read the 4/13 ³Gift of The Week² item featuring the Engle family.

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“We wish to make it possible for students to graduate from college without the worry about student loans and educational debt. In this way, students are free to choose careers that may make an impact on society and, therefore, make this world a better place for all of us.”