Maxine S. Ellend Adds $1 Million to Scholarship Fund that Benefits Students at Rutgers Law School
On the occasion of her 98th birthday, on July 9, 2015, Maxine S. Ellend added $1 million to the Herbert M. and Maxine S. Ellend Scholarship fund, which has eased the financial burden for more than 170 students who have received legal educations at Rutgers School of Law-Newark.
Maxine S. Ellend established the fund in 1971 to honor the memory of her husband Herbert – a 1927 graduate of the school.
Ronald Chen, dean of the school, said of this latest gift, “We are deeply indebted to Mrs. Ellend, who through her major financial contributions over the course of 45 years has provided funding that has allowed this public institution to produce lawyers dedicated to social justice and excellence in the profession.”
Herbert M. Ellend was a solo practitioner with an office in Newark and later in Millburn. His primary areas of focus were banking, corporations, estates and trusts, and real property law. Ellend’s integrity, ability to judge others, and understanding of the meaning of a commitment won the respect of the legal community.
In 1959 Chief Justice Joseph Weintraub of the New Jersey Supreme Court appointed Ellend a public director of Prudential Insurance Company, and in 1961 Ellend was elevated to chair Prudential’s Finance Committee, where he was responsible for overseeing millions of dollars of investments.
As an attorney, he was instrumental in shaping several high profile real estate transactions, including Prudential Insurance Company’s purchase of the Empire State Building in 1951 and the creation of the Mall at Short Hills.
Herbert and Maxine Ellend married in 1946, 10 days after meeting while seatmates on a flight to Maxine’s native Canada. In the 1950s, Maxine Ellend spearheaded the launch of the first chapter of Planned Parenthood Federation in New Jersey.
Sixty-nine years after their marriage, Maxine Ellend maintains her devotion to the memory of her husband, who died in 1967, and to the school that meant so much to him. Even prior to this new gift, the Ellend Scholarship Fund was one of the largest scholarship funds dedicated to students at Rutgers School of Law-Newark – valued at more than $300,000.
In addition to the scholarship fund, in 1997 Maxine S. Ellend contributed to the construction of the law school’s modern building, the S.I. Newhouse Center for Law and Justice. Its atrium, used for law school and university receptions, is named in memory of Herbert M. Ellend.