Povich donates $1M to Penn
philly.com
March 24, 2011
"IT TOOK A lot of paternity tests to make this gift," talk-show host Maury Povich jokes about the $1 million he donated to the University of Pennsylvania's Kelly Writers House to establish the Povich Fund for Journalism Programs.
Povich, who graduated from Penn in 1962, and journalist wife Connie Chung, have previously funded journalism efforts at Penn's Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing (CPCW).
"I was an undistinguished graduate. It only took me five years, and a summer to graduate," Povich said yesterday. "I had been in a single-sex school for many years, and I had never seen girls before I came to Penn," he said.
Povich, who returned to Philadelphia in the early '80s to work at Channel 3, said he ended up at Penn because "My brother went to Yale, but I didn't get in."
He credits Al Filreis, director of CPCW and faculty director of the Kelly Writers House, for getting him involved in donating to the university. He credits his late father, Washington Post sportswriter Shirley Povich, with teaching him about journalism.
"I think my father would be proud of what these kids are doing," Povich said. Though known for his television work, he says he's always supported writing.