Gift Honors a Father’s Memory While Supporting Students
UM senior Alyssa Moncrief (right), the 2021 Brick Muller scholar, and Meggy Muller, great-granddaughter of the gift’s namesake, get to know each other on the Ole Miss campus. Photo by Bill Dabney/UM Foundation
November 6, 2021 by
Ted Muller’s recent gift to the University of Mississippi supplements an endowment that honors his father while providing financial assistance to Ole Miss students.
The Savannah, Georgia, resident made a $60,000 gift to the Brick Muller Memorial Scholarship Endowment Fund, which was established in 1987 by family and friends of the late Louis Frederick “Brick” Muller, of Memphis, Tennessee. The gift brought the endowment’s value to $100,000.
Alyssa Moncrief, of Brandon, is the scholarship’s 2021 recipient.
“The Brick Muller Scholarship has been a constant reminder of my abilities and potential for success as it has financed my education and allowed me to focus on my academics and extracurriculars rather than worrying about how I would pay for tuition,” said Moncrief, a senior double-major in public policy leadership and journalism who plans to enroll in law school after graduation.
“In attending Ole Miss, I have been afforded any opportunity I could dream of pursuing, from creating my own track towards my degrees, taking on leadership roles and creating change within my own community.”
Ted Muller, a University of Pennsylvania graduate, is a retired investment manager. His father, a 1927 UM business graduate, used his education to open Brick Muller and Associates, which grew to be a successful Memphis-based advertising agency with national accounts.
“I feel very fortunate to be able to make this gift in Dad’s honor,” Muller said, adding that Brick Muller’s grandson, Ralph Muller, and his wife, Christy, graduated from Ole Miss; their daughter, Margaret, is a student in the UM School of Business Administration.
“Because of those ties, as well as his own affinity for the university, I believe my father would be proud to know that this scholarship is helping young people like Alyssa afford to go to Ole Miss for their college education.”
Recipients of the Brick Muller Memorial Scholarship must be full-time students who meet certain criteria with respect to scholastic aptitude, leadership ability and financial need.
“Private gifts like Mr. Muller’s are so important to the university because they enable us to recruit deserving students who may otherwise be unable to attend college or who may choose to go to another university that offers more financial aid,” said Charlotte Parks, vice chancellor for development. “We are extremely grateful for his generosity.”
The Brick Muller Memorial Scholarship Endowment Fund is open to support from businesses and individuals. Gifts can be made by sending a check, with the fund’s name noted on the memo line, to the University of Mississippi Foundation, 406 University Ave., Oxford, MS 38655, or by giving online at https://give.olemiss.edu.
To honor a friend or family member with a named endowment, contact Charlotte Parks at cpparks@olemiss.edu or 662-915-3120.