Columbia University received a $5 million commitment from alumnus John Sullivan and his family to provide a three-year, full-tuition scholarship to one deserving, exceptional freshman each year.
The Grace Rodriguez ’86 Scholars Program was created in memory of John Sullivan’s wife, Grace Rodriguez, and to continue her legacy as a mentor.
The program will also build a network of Rodriguez Fellows.
Fellows are encouraged to carry on the values that Rodriguez embodied throughout her life by serving as mentors and role models to subsequent students and other graduates of the program throughout their careers.
Sullivan said Grace has consistently given good advice not only to young lawyers and their colleagues, but also to our children and their non-lawyer friends.
“Especially for young female employees, she would take the time to advise them on the differences between equity and non-equity partnerships and show them how to balance their professional practice with family commitments,” Sullivan said.
Rodriguez was a longtime partner in King & Spalding’s Washington office, specializing in complex civil litigation, antitrust matters, whistleblower claims and internal investigations.
“Grace loved being a lawyer,” said Sullivan, a former U.S. ambassador to the Russian Federation, former deputy secretary of state and now a partner at Mayer Brown. “She was like a detective. She loved doing interviews, getting documents, finding out what happened, debunking all the nonsense and finding out when people were lying to her. She had very good instincts as a human being.”
Shortly after Rodriguez’s death, Sullivan began discussing with her children and her mother how to memorialize her. They agreed that a scholarship to Columbia Law School, where she and Sullivan met, fell in love and worked as editors for the Columbia Law Review.
