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Empowering Futures

To help students with health and disability challenges, endowments at ILR and at Cornell have been created in honor of Eric Ehrenberg '93.

Son of ILR Professor Ron Ehrenberg and Randy Ehrenberg and brother of Jason Ehrenberg '96, Eric Ehrenberg died in August at age 37.  He was a 19-year-old Cornell student when his cancer was first diagnosed.

The Eric Lawrence Ehrenberg Memorial Prize, funded by family and friends, will be awarded each year to a graduating ILR senior who has overcome serious health problems.

Another endowment, The Eric Lawrence Ehrenberg Memorial Fund in Cornell's Office of Student Disability Services, will support the Cornell Union for Disability Awareness.

Eric Ehrenberg was majoring in government and philosophy and was captain of the Cornell men's volleyball team when he developed a malignant tumor in the pituitary region of his brain during the 1990-91 academic year.

"He spent a year undergoing three brain surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation therapy and returned to Cornell after missing a year of school with vision in only half of one eye, with hearing aids in both ears and on complete hormone replacement therapy," his father said.

"His return to Cornell was greatly facilitated by the support that he received from Joan Fisher, coordinator of disability services at Cornell, and the newly formed Access Alternatives student group that worked to improve the Cornell communities' understanding of the needs of students with disabilities at Cornell," Ron Ehrenberg said.

Eric Ehrenberg became the undergraduate chair of Access Alternatives during his senior year and graduated from Cornell magna cum laude in May 1993.

The Cornell Union for Disability Awareness – supported by the Ehrenberg endowment – is a successor to Access Alternatives.  Contributions to the fund can be made to Cornell University – Eric Ehrenberg Memorial Fund, care of Darrlyn O'Connell, 385 Ives Hall East, ILR School, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-3901.

Eric Ehrenberg earned a law degree from Georgetown University in 1996, married and became the father of a daughter, Talia.  He worked as an attorney specializing in civil rights and union management relations issues in the U.S. Department of Labor in Washington, D.C., where he died in August.  Pamela Ehrenberg, his wife, gave birth to a son, Nathan Eric, last month.

"Despite all of the adversities Eric faced during the last half of his life, including a recurrence of his tumor in 2004, which led to two more brain surgeries and a bout with meningitis that left him with additional disabilities," Ron Ehrenberg said. "He maintained an optimistic attitude and an extraordinary sense of humor throughout his life."

Ron Ehrenberg is ILR's Irving M. Ives Professor of Industrial and Labor Relations and Economics, a Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow at Cornell and a member of the Cornell Board of Trustees.

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