University of Hawaiʻi Realizes $2 Million Planned Gift

The University of Hawaiʻi announced today that it has received a bequest of $2 million from the Gertrude M.F. Moir Trust. The trust will provide scholarships for between ten and twenty UH Manoa students each year in perpetuity.

In 1982, Mrs. Moir and her husband John Troup Moir, Jr. established a trust that, upon the death of the survivor, would become irrevocable. The trust then provided income for their two children until the surviving child passed away, at which point the proceeds of the trust were to be divided equally between the University of Hawaiʻi and Hawaii Pacific University. With the passing of their daughter ŒBabs‚ Moir Mason, the trust was split between the two universities. The University of Hawaii‚s $2 million portion will distribute approximately $100,000 annually in support of student access.

The Moirs set two broad criteria for their scholarship when the trust was originally created: community service or work experience; and satisfactory scholastic achievement, defined by maintenance of a 2.5 GPA at Manoa, or a 3.0 high school GPA for incoming freshmen. The scholarship is renewable for full-time students for up to four years. University of Hawaiʻi President Evan Dobelle said, "This scholarship is unique precisely because it is not restrictive. Sometimes scholarships with especially narrow criteria cannot be awarded during a given semester because no students qualify and the donor was very specific in their intentions. But this scholarship is guaranteed to make a difference at its maximum level every year. We are deeply grateful for the Moirs‚ generosity and foresight. With the multiple demands placed on them by work, school and family, the needs of UH students are greater now than ever."

John T. Moir, Jr. was born in Onomea, Hawaiʻi in 1894 and went on to become a sugar plantation executive. In 1916 he married Gertrude Fisher of Philadelphia, who distinguished herself as a school principal after receiving a M.Ed from the University of Hawaiʻi in 1945. Both were extensively involved with community groups for their entire lives. The couple had two children. John T. Moir III was an industrial engineer and agronomist who was born to the couple in Paia, Maui and eventually settled in Austin, Texas. Their daughter, Mildred Mason, was a Punahou graduate who moved to Oregon in 1994 after a long career as a teacher in Hawaiʻi.