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Furman University has announced that, as a result of the efforts of local civic and community leaders, Furman University's award-winning Collegiate Educational Service Corps will be supported by a new $1.5 million endowment and bear the name of Max and Trude Heller.
Furman officials and some of Greenville's most prominent citizens gathered at the Hyatt Regency for the announcement honoring the Hellers, a Greenville couple who have devoted a lifetime of service to the community. The event included remarks by community leader Minor Mickel Shaw, mayor Knox White, Judge Merl Code, and former South Carolina Governor and U.S. Secretary of Education Dick Riley. It was also announced that more than $1 million has been raised in support of the newly named Max and Trude Heller Collegiate Educational Service Corps. The endowment will ensure the operation and continued growth of the student volunteer organization that works with area agencies, hospitals, and schools. "We wanted to honor two persons - Max and Trude Heller - who have inspired generations of Greenville citizens with the story of their lives and the way they live," Shaw said. "We could not think of a more appropriate way to show our thanks than to establish an endowment to underwrite and give a personal name to Furman's CESC, one of Greenville's oldest and largest corps of volunteers."
Collegiate Educational Service Corps is one of the leading community service programs in the nation. Each school year, more than 800 students work in 45 area agencies, from the Oakmont Nursing Home and the Free Medical Clinic to Greenville County schools and the Literacy Association. The grand finale of each school year is "May Day Play Day," when the students bring to campus the hundreds of children and adults they have served throughout the year. The Service Corps, founded in 1965 by former Furman administrator Betty Alverson, originally had six students serving three agencies. The organization has received the South Carolina Governor's Award and has twice been named as one of four finalists in the National Center for Voluntary Action's annual award in "recognition of outstanding volunteer service and achievement." During the Service Corps' early years, Max Heller, as mayor of Greenville, facilitated many of the agency relationships that remain a part of the organization. Over the years, the Hellers have established scholarships at Furman, taught classes, and served as volunteer leaders. Both have received honorary degrees from the university, and Max is currently a member of the Furman Board of Trustees. Heller, a native of Austria, left his Nazi-occupied homeland in 1938 and came to Greenville to work as a stock boy at Piedmont Shirt Company. Trude, his wife-to-be, followed from Austria a short time later. The bond between the Hellers and Furman began when Furman president John L. Plyler became a mentor to young Max. Heller went on to found the Maxon Shirt Company and retired in 1969 to devote his time to public service. In 1971, after two years on the Greenville City Council, he was elected to the first of two consecutive terms as mayor of Greenville, where he led the way in revitalizing downtown Greenville. He also formerly served as chair of the State Development Board and president of the Greenville Chamber of Commerce.
(Photos provided by Furman University.)
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University officials also said they would name for the Hellers a room in Furman's new on-campus conference center, which is still in the planning stages.