THe DaviD C. Weber foundation

“Expanding the Horizons of Education”

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David Weber passed away in August 2001 at the age of 33.  He left behind his wife and three children, his parents, six adult brothers and their families, and many close friends.  In 2003, David's friends and family decided to establish a foundation in his name that would benefit others.  We chose to focus on assisting students studying abroad because that was an important part of David's life when he was growing up.

 

David studied Spanish throughout his school years and ultimately obtained a Master's Degree in Spanish Literature at Tulane University.  On completing his master's program he taught a short course in Spanish to graduate students who needed to be proficient in a second language to receive their Master's degrees. He first went abroad with his parents to during spring break his freshman year in high school.  That trip fueled his interest in the Spanish language and the different cultures that spoke Spanish, so the summer after his junior year in high school he lived with a family in Spain. He became life-long friends with his host family, whose children in turn studied in the the United States and returned at various times to visit with David and his family, and he even traveled to Spain later  to attend their second daughter's wedding. He also spent his junior year in college abroad at the University in Madrid.

 

During one trip when the host family's son was visiting David and his family in Chicago, they talked about how their relationships had all come about because of the student exchange programs and how grateful they were for having been a part of that.  David's family and friends intend that the Foundation will give that same opportunity to young people to foster good relations with other families abroad by expanding their use of a foreign language and learning more about each other cultures.

 

Of all of David's friends he was one of the few that became so involved with a foreign language and kept such close contact with his host family, which is why we started this Foundation and want to remember him in this way.