It was 1985, and Reda Ammar ’83, now head of the computer science & engineering department at UConn, had a serious problem.

As a new faculty member at the University, Reda and his wife Tahany ’83, ’91, were caught in a bureaucratic no man’s land between immigration offices in Hartford and Cairo, Egypt, which inexplicably kept Reda without his visa and unable to work in the position that he had traveled half a world away to fill.

A week’s worth of shuttling back and forth between the countries, and waiting in line after line, was only resolved through the selflessness of a UConn legend whose life Ammar and many others have now memorialized with gifts to a named scholarship fund.

Fred Maryanski ’74, then the chairman of computer sciences, personally picked up the phone and petitioned Connecticut’s senators and the U.S. Embassy for help, while at the same time subbing for not just one but three courses that Reda was to be teaching. It was a perfect demonstration of Maryanski’s dedication to UConn’s faculty and students, cited by peers time and time again following his death in July 2010.

“Fred contributed so much to my life, the University, and the entire field of computer science,” says Ammar. “That’s why I gave to the fund.”

Maryanski was the first head of UConn’s Department of Computer Science & Engineering. A highly respected, pioneering computer expert, he was also the founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of Very Large Databases. He joined the Provost’s Office in 1989, taking on responsibility for academic affairs, the regional campuses, and the University’s fledgling educational technology program. He served two terms as interim provost, as well as terms as interim chancellor and executive vice president for academic affairs.

The newly established Fred J. Maryanski Memorial Fund for Computer Science supports scholarships for students majoring in a computer science program in the School of Engineering. Since the fund was established, donors from across the UConn community, touched by Maryanski’s leadership and friendship over the span of more than two decades at the University, have steadily contributed.

Laura Dzurec ’74 (a life member of the UConn Alumni Association) is one of those donors. Now the dean of Kent State University’s College of Nursing, she served in the equivalent role at UConn during Maryanski’s tenure as UConn’s interim provost.

“Fred was an incredibly supporting mentor,” Dzurec says. “In my opinion, a good provost hears what the issues are, deals with them in a realistic way, and provides support to do what needs to be done. That was Fred. He really understood the University, believed in the University, and had a clear commitment to whatever he believed in.”

Karen Maryanski says the decision to honor her husband with a scholarship fund fits perfectly with his love for the students at UConn.

“I think [the scholarship fund] was the best thing anyone could do in his name,” she says. “He felt that the reason an administrator does the job is for the students. Their successes meant everything to him, and whenever he made a decision, he always kept in mind what would benefit the students most. So this would mean the world to him.”

Karen and her family recently visited Storrs again; the couple had moved to Nevada, following Fred’s 2005 appointment as president of Nevada State College at Henderson.

At the time of his departure for Nevada, then UConn president Philip E. Austin said, “Over the past two eventful decades, Fred Maryanski has made a tremendous contribution to the University’s progress … It is no understatement to say that Dr. Maryanski is one of the handful of people who has brought UConn from a position of regional strength to national stature.”

Recalls Karen Maryanski, “[Coming back to UConn] was like I had never left. And I forgot how much UConn still mattered to me. We were welcomed with open arms, and it was a great experience for all of us.”

Reda Ammar says the timing couldn’t be better to provide scholarship support in the field of Fred Maryanski’s passion, computer science.

“We need to find and support students who believe, as Fred believed, in the computing fields,” Ammar says. “Computer science is critical today in every profession from medicine to networking. Through the Maryanski fund, we want to reward those high quality students to carry on Fred’s legacy.”

To support the School of Engineeering, please contact the Foundation’s development staff for more information. You may make a gift to the Maryanski Fund on the School of Engineering’s secure online giving site.