Kelowna residents Grant and Beryl Carnine have established a new $50,000 endowment for cancer research at UBC Okanagan, in memory of their late son Bryce.
Bryce was born and raised in southern Alberta, attending the University of Calgary and graduating from the Western School of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatchewan in 1974. He moved to the United States and founded a successful veterinary practice in Riverside, California. He succumbed to cancer in Bozeman, Montana, after moving there upon his retirement in 2002.
“He was well-educated and believed in education,” said Grant Carnine. “Though Bryce had never attended school in B.C., we are living here and having the new university here seemed an opportunity to make a useful contribution that might produce something special.”
The Bryce Carnine Memorial Award Endowment Fund will produce an annual income that will be awarded to an undergraduate or graduate student in the Faculty of Health and Social Development.
“We are tremendously grateful to the Carnines for establishing such a meaningful endowment in memory of their son,” said Dr. Joan Bottorff, Dean of UBC Okanagan’s Faculty of Health and Social Development. “This endowment will help outstanding students continue their studies at UBC Okanagan, contributing to the advancement of knowledge in cancer prevention and treatment.”
The prize will be awarded to a student who, in addition to achieving scholastic excellence, will conduct a research project or special initiative related to the prevention or cure of cancer, or their relation to improving the quality of life of cancer patients.
“We intend the emphasis, as much as possible, to be on cancer research – and we want the endowment to be used by a student each year,” said Carnine. “Our grandsons are university graduates who have benefited from scholarships.”
In setting up the Bryce Carnine Memorial Award, the Carnines said they want to support research to improve the lives of cancer patients, as well as to encourage others in the community to add to this endowment, or create their own legacy by establishing endowments to benefit university students.
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