This fund was established by O. Mason Hawkins in 1997 for the purpose of supporting the Security Analysis concentration in the Hough Graduate School of Business at the Warrington College of Business.

Hawkins earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Florida in 1970 and a master’s degree from the University of Georgia in 1971. Hawkins is an alumnus of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.

In 1975, Hawkins was a founding partner of Southeastern Asset Management, Inc., a Memphis-based investment firm.

Hawkins is a longtime support of his alma mater, UF, donating $1 million to UF’s College of Business to establish a new MBA Security Analysis Program at UF with curriculum focused on business evaluations. Hawkins wanted to honor Warren Buffet and allow students at UF to learn his investment discipline and those of Columbia professor Benjamin Graham. Buffett and Graham’s two books The Intelligent Investor and Security Analysis contributed significantly to Southeastern’s success.

Hawkins and his wife, Ann B. Hawkins, have two children, Sidney and Katherine.