During their junior year abroad, Jeffrey A. Leerink and Delta Phi fraternity brothers Thomas Baltay '87 and James Olney '87 met in Florence and traveled throughout Italy together during a semester break. Leerink and Baltay so enjoyed their travels that they vowed that after graduation, they'd labor for a few years, make enough money to buy a boat and then sail around the world.
The dream ended, tragically, when Baltay died in a car crash after he returned home. But nearly 20 years later, Leerink is keeping his old friend's spirit alive by issuing a new challenge to the scholarship that bears his name.
Leerink has offered to match up to $25,000 in donations that alumni and others give to the Thomas A. Baltay '87 Memorial Scholarship, established in 1989 by the Baltay family and Baltay's friends at Delta Phi and Union.
“Nothing would make me happier than to match the whole amount,” says Leerink, now chairman of Leerink, Swann and Company, a Boston healthcare investment banking firm.
Leerink remembers his old friend for his easy-going personality, free spirit and ability to “bring the important things in life front and center.” In addition, he had a passion for engineering and the outdoors. “Tom would come out of engineering classes with ideas for how to redesign surfboards and skis,” Leerink recalls.
This winter, Leerink was planning a sailing trip from Florida to the Caribbean through the Panama Canal, with stops in Costa Rica, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. He invited along Delta Phi brothers Olney, Matthew Schambers '86 and Patrick DiCerbo '88, all old friends of Baltay's. “We'll be thinking of Tom,” Leerink said before setting off in mid-January, “and I'm sure we'll make a toast to him.”