In 2000, James H. Shimberg initiated this scholarship in recognition of his friend and associate, Richard E. Darby.

Richard Darby was a prominent CPA in Tampa for almost 50 years. A past president of the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Darby served on the State Board of Accounting from 1974-78. He graduated from UF with an accounting degree in 1946. It was about 10 years later that Jim Shimberg started his building development business in Tampa and hired Darby’s CPA firm. Shimberg said he got his first exposure to UF in the late 50s when the Darbys would take him and his wife to Gainesville for football games. “I have gotten a lot out of my relationship with the university,” Shimberg said. ” I attribute much of that to Richard. That is why, when he passed away last year, I decided to set up an accounting scholarship in his name.”

Shimberg is a longtime supporter of the university, having established the Shimberg Center for Affordable Housing and made major financial contributions to the university. Jim Shimberg is the president of Town ‘n Country Park Inc. He is also an emeritus member of the University of Florida Foundation Board and a Gator dad. Four of his five children graduated from UF and two graduated from the Fredric G. Levin College of Law.

In 1998, Shimberg received the University of Florida Distinguished Achievement Awar