NEWS

Tarrson Philanthropic Fund establishes scholarship at UNC School of Dentistry

CHAPEL HILL -- The E.B. Tarrson Philanthropic Fund of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago has contributed $100,000 to the Dental Foundation of North Carolina to establish a merit-based scholarship in memory of the late Bud Tarrson.

Tarrson, who died in 1999, was one of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Dentistry’s most generous benefactors. He is the namesake of Tarrson Hall, the school’s clinical facility.

Linda Tarrson, Bud Tarrson’s wife, said in announcing the scholarship that she and the family decided to establish a merit-based scholarship in recognition of the growing costs of attending dental school.

"You have an obligation to your family and to your community, and that’s how I feel about UNC – it’s like family," she said. "I feel the School (of Dentistry) is tops in the world."

The E. Bud Tarrson Family Scholarship will provide an annual merit-based scholarship to a doctor of dental surgery student who demonstrates satisfactory academic progress, clinical excellence and a commitment to community service.

"Bud’s genius lay in bringing preventive dentistry into the modern era, and his vision for dental education was represented by his generous philanthropy to numerous dental institutions, but specifically the UNC School of Dentistry," said Dr. John Stamm, school dean. "In his latter years, Bud and his wife, Linda, became ‘true blue.’"

Bud Tarrson was the former chairman and chief executive officer of the John O. Butler Co., the Chicago-based maker of toothbrushes, dental floss and other oral hygiene products. He joined the company in 1949, the same year the UNC School of Dentistry was founded. He went on to build Butler into one of the world’s largest and most respected manufacturers of dental products. The company went public in 1984 and was purchased by a Japanese company four years later.

Linda Tarrson entered the dental industry in 1975 when she joined Butler as executive assistant to the chief executive officer. She continues her involvement in dentistry by serving on numerous dental industry and education boards, including the UNC School of Dentistry’s Carolina First campaign honorary advisory committee.

The Tarrsons have made major contributions to dentals schools nationwide, establishing endowed faculty chairs and scholarships at Columbia University, the University of California at Los Angeles, Northwestern University, the University of Southern California and UNC. In addition, they established an endowed fellowship with the American Academy of Periodontology Foundation.

The Tarrsons contributed $2 million to UNC’s School of Dentistry in 1992 to help build Tarrson Hall, the $21.6 million clinical teaching facility. More than 100,000 patient visits are scheduled yearly in the school’s student and faculty clinics housed in Tarrson Hall.

The Tarrson gift counts toward the Carolina First campaign goal of $1.8 billion. Carolina First is a comprehensive, multi-year private fund-raising campaign to support Carolina’s vision of becoming the nation’s leading public university.

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School of Dentistry contact: Paul Gardner, (919) 966-2731