About Tri-County
Edward L. Hennessy, Jr.
(1928-2026)
Ed and his late wife, Ruth, who was also a devoted friend of Tri-County Scholarship Fund.
THE VISIONARIES
Combining their talents, Ed Hennessy and Bishop Rodimer created the Tri-County Scholarship Fund. The Fund would exist to give financial scholarships to financially disadvantaged children in grades K-12 to go to accredited private and parochial schools.
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They started the program with a fundraising dinner in 1981. As Ed likes to say: “the dinner cost me $50,000 and we brought in $45,000!” But it was a start, and suddenly many prominent business leaders knew about Tri-County, as it came to be called, and about the plight of young people who could not afford a good education. Ed and Bishop Rodimer lost no time in recruiting them to the board. Meanwhile, they visited the homes and families of many students.
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There they met mothers and fathers who would forego a meal so that they could do their part in sending the children to the diocesan and parochial schools. And so, between the parents, the teachers and the business leaders, Tri-County took off.
