Major donation to support Honors Program

The estate gift of a Mississippi State alumnus and longtime educator will help the university attract the nation's brightest high school students while honoring the donor's late brother.

Valued at between $400,000 and $500,000, the bequest from Edwin Burwell Bridgforth of Pickens will establish the Stewart Holder Bridgforth Honors Scholarship Program. The scholarships will help the University Honors Program enroll more top high school seniors. With nearly 1,200 participants, Mississippi State has one of the nation's largest honors programs. The UHP is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.

Stewart Bridgforth, a 1942 Mississippi State graduate who died in 1996, was a retired Pickens farmer and cattleman. A decorated World War II Army veteran of the Battle of the Bulge, he was a longtime president of Four County Academy, as well as a charter director and president of the Mississippi Livestock Producers Association.

Edwin Bridgforth studied chemical engineering and physics at Mississippi State. He holds a bachelor's degree in physics from Duke University and a master's degree in human nutrition from Columbia University's School of Public Health.

The Yazoo County native is a Navy veteran who taught physics and biostatistics and worked as a research assistant at Mississippi State, Vanderbilt University, University of Texas at Galveston, and University of Mississippi Medical Center.