New Endowed Scholarship Will Support Fisher Nursing Students

The newly established Sally-Ann Whelan Memorial Endowed Scholarship will support the next generation of nurses studying in the Wegmans School of Nursing at St. John Fisher University.

Shortly before his passing, alumnus Jim Whelan ’05 established the scholarship in memory of his late wife, Sally-Ann, who became a loyal supporter of the Wegmans School of Nursing out of her admiration for the education Fisher nurses receive. 

“Sally-Ann’s professional accomplishments, along with the care and compassion she showed others, reflect the qualities we hope to see in every Fisher nurse. This generous scholarship will help future generations of Fisher nurses follow her example,” said Dr. Gerard J. Rooney, president of the University.

Sally-Ann graduated from Columbia University School of Nursing in 1961, went to work at Flushing Hospital in New York and married Jim just a few months later. In 1963, they had their first child and Sally-Ann began what turned out to be a 24 year “sabbatical” as she raised their three children. Sally-Ann returned to nursing in 1987 and received her Masters of Nursing from the University of Rochester in 1996, working at both Strong Memorial and Highland Hospitals. She retired as a nurse practitioner with a specialty in wound, ostomy, continence, and skin care. According to her family, Sally-Ann had a great respect and admiration for the education that Fisher nurses received at the Wegmans School of Nursing and became a loyal supporter.

Jim served as vice president of finance at St. John Fisher from 1996 to until he retired in 2006. He was a 1957 graduate of Fordham University, and at the age of 70, he received his MBA from the School of Business at Fisher. Prior to Fisher, Jim had a long and successful career at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he was admitted to partnership in 1975 before retiring in 1995.