Basu: Scholarship a fitting legacy
Rekha Basu • January 20, 2008


Rob Borsellino


I've been thinking about how much Rob would have loved writing his column these days. This political season has been loaded with the adrenaline-pumping stuff my late husband lived for: the scoop, the gossip, the proximity to key players.

He'd have scoped out where the candidates hung out and schmoozed with them. He'd probably have gotten in Giuliani's face for not campaigning in Iowa. He'd be chronicling a restaurant worker's or hotel housekeeper's brushes with celebrities.


Rob had a passion for telling people's stories. But long before he did that for his Register column, he was an editor, inspiring legions of young reporters to do the same. I was one of those he influenced.

After Rob died of Lou Gehrig's Disease in May 2006, I thought the most meaningful way to memorialize him would be to help nurture the potential of an aspiring journalist who had also faced some personal challenge. So we created the Rob Borsellino Journalism Scholarship at Des Moines Area Community College. It's a $1,000 grant awarded each year to a DMACC student interested in journalism and social change. It's funded by all the generous memorial contributions made in Rob's name.

The first scholarship was awarded last month, to Molly Lumley. She's 19 and writes for the DMACC student newspaper, Banner News. It has helped her find her niche in journalism. After getting her associate's degree in liberal arts this spring, she plans to transfer to Waldorf College to major in communications, specializing in print.

The instructor who recommended Molly wrote, "After she wrote a feature obituary following the death of one of our students, I told her that I hoped that she was still writing obituaries when I die because she did such a thoughtful job."

Like Rob, Molly hasn't had it easy financially. He had to put himself through college, working as a bank teller, cab driver and other jobs. She's also paying for her tuition and books herself.

"I currently live in a household with my parents, my three younger brothers and myself. We survive off an income staggeringly below the poverty line," she wrote in her application. ".... My father is retired and disabled from an accident... My mother has been in and out of hospitals with various illnesses for as long as I can remember and has also been unable to work. "

Rob also started out at community college.

In background, upbringing and political orientation, Molly and Rob would be miles apart. He grew up in The Bronx. She grew up in Boone. He went to public school; she was home-schooled. He leaned left politically; she leans right, but is just as opinionated.

But Molly says she draws her inspiration from people who start out having it rough, but through hard work and perseverance are able to overcome their circumstances. Maybe they're not so different.

People leave their mark in different ways, through their words, their work, their children. Rob lives on in his columns, and in his sons, the younger of whom will also go to college this fall. Now Rob's legacy will also endure with every aspiring journalist the scholarship helps to find a voice.

REKHA BASU can be reached at rbasu@dmreg.com or (515) 284-8584.

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