Cruzan VIRIL Ltd. will present the University of the Virgin Islands with a check at a presentation set for 10 a.m. on Thursday, April 15, at the Cruzan Rum distillery on St. Croix. A $40,000 check will be presented to UVI President David Hall by Matt Shattock, president and CEO of Beam Global Spirits and Wine, a subsidiary of Fortune Brands and parent company of Cruzan Rum. Cruzan VIRIL will be represented by President/CEO Gary Nelthropp and CFO Marvin Pickering.
“Cruzan Rum has been an invaluable supporter of academic scholarships at the University of the Virgin Islands for a number of years,” Dr. Hall said. “Mr. Nelthropp and the Cruzan Rum family are treasured university partners, whose commitment to education in the U.S. Virgin Islands is legendary.”
Marvin Pickering, a graduate of UVI’s Class of 1985, said: “I received a very solid education from the University of the Virgin Islands, then College of the Virgin Islands. I consider my educational experience second to none. We are very proud to have UVI graduates employed at our company, and their performance speaks well to the education they received at UVI. I am proud that we are making this investment in education in our community.”
“Cruzan’s commitment to the University of the Virgin Islands is a testament to Cruzan’s deep roots in the territory, and all of us at Beam Global are incredibly proud of the difference Cruzan makes in the community year after year,” said Matt Shattock.
Since 1987, Cruzan VIRIL Ltd. has made annual contributions, now totaling $615,000 with this year’s contribution, in support of UVI scholarships and the Foundation for the UVI (FUVI) Golf Classic. In 2000, it established an endowed scholarship in recognition of the late Knud Oliver Parris, who was the longest tenured employee of the company when he died in 1997. Parris had been employed at the distillery for more than 45 years.
