This fund was established by Bob Graham and his brother, William A. Graham, in memory of their brother, Philip, in 2007 to support undergraduate and graduate programs to prepare students for public and civic leadership responsibilities.

Philip Leslie Graham was born July 18, 1915 in Terry, SD. In 1921, his family moved to Florida. Graham earned his bachelor’s from in 1936 from the University of Florida where he was a member of the Debate Team and Florida Blue Key and played polo. Graham went on to the Harvard University Law School, where he was editor of the Law Review and earned a magna cum laude degree. In 1939 and 1940 he was law clerk to Justice Stanley M. Reed of the Supreme Court, and the following year he was clerk to Justice Felix Frankfurter. In 1942 he entered the Army Air Corps as a private and in 1945 he emerged as a major attached to the intelligence staff of the Far East Air Force.

Graham was the president and CEO of The Washington Post and chairman of the board of Newsweek until he passed away on August 3, 1963 at age 48 on his farm near Marshall, VA.

Graham was a lawyer by profession and a friend of President Kennedy, working as the chairman of the President’s 13-member committee to establish the Communications Satellite Corporation which will own and operate a world-wide space communications system. He was married to Katherine M. Graham and had four children: Elizabeth, Donald, William and Stephen.