Jerry Weiss Scholarships Awarded to Four UIC Students

Weiss & Company LLP, a proud sponsor of the 52nd Annual UIC Accounting Banquet, was honored to present the Jerry Weiss Scholarship to several deserving students.

Dan Fortman, Managing Partner at Weiss & Company LLP, joined Naomi Weiss—wife of the late Jerry Weiss, founder of the firm—to award four Jerry Weiss Scholarships during the banquet held on the evening of April 25th.

The four UIC students, each one an accounting major, received scholarships of $2,000. The four students are Leslye Carrasco, a junior; Gilberto Ceja, a sophomore; Mark Emerson De Jesus, a senior; and Guadalupe Lopez, a freshman.

They were joined by Ronald Jastrzebski, a lecturer in the Department of Accounting at UIC; James Ferrigan, a current intern at Weiss and a junior at UIC; Erik McMullen, a Tax season intern and junior at UIC; Helia Valadan, a Tax season intern and junior at UIC; Diana Anisova, an audit associate and UIC alumna; and Kari Thompson, talent acquisition manager at Weiss.

Jerry Weiss Scholarships have been awarded annually since 1995.

Fortman was hired by Weiss in 1981, shortly after graduating from UIC. He remembers Weiss as “very bright, patient, and a great leader. He enjoyed teaching and developing his staff. He was extremely well liked and respected by everyone he worked with, both clients and staff.”

Sadly, Weiss died from pancreatic cancer in 1994 at age 58. It was a tragic and huge loss to his family and friends. His colleagues, friends and family wanted to honor his legacy as the firm’s founder in some tangible way. After evaluating several options, they decided to fund a scholarship in his name.

Weiss had graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in accounting, yet that undergraduate program no longer exists. The University of Illinois Chicago was an appropriate alternative, and the school was delighted to help the firm set up and administer the scholarship.

How to Apply
To be considered for the scholarship, students must be full-time undergraduates and majoring in accounting.

Interested students apply through UIC’s website for scholarship and awards program. Preference is given to those interested in public accounting, and awardees are selected based on academic merit and financial need. The application also requires an essay about the student’s career and academic goals.