By PATTY ALLEN-JONES patty.allen-jones@heraldtribune.com SARASOTA -- Roland Abraham studied to be a pharmacist for a year before he quit college to help his family through the Great Depression. Abraham, 90, never made it back to school. But over the past 12 years, he has helped 671 local students realize their college dreams. On Wednesday, the Emily and Roland Abraham Educational Fund in Memory of Emily Abraham surpassed $1 million in total scholarship awards. "Nothing is important as the future of our tri-county area, and the future lies in our young people going to college," Abraham said. "I don't want money to stand in their way." The scholarships are administered by the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. They are available to students from Charlotte, Manatee and Sarasota counties who are active in their school or community and can show that they need the help. The community foundation honored Abraham on Wednesday as it announced $2,000 scholarships to 75 students from the class of 2007. Abraham has been an inspiration to other scholarship donors, said Stewart Stearns, CEO of the foundation. "He's been giving in a very gentle, caring and unselfish way," Stearns said. Abraham worked as a printer for an ad company in New York and married his wife, Emily, in 1958. The couple lived frugally, even after Emily's mother left them a fortune. She was a housekeeper who followed her boss's advice and invested during the early days of Wall Street. Emily Abraham died in 1991 after 33 years of marriage. The couple had no children. Roland Abraham -- believing he had more money than he needed and feeling uncomfortable spending his wife's inheritance -- started the scholarship fund and donated a portion of the estate to Mote Marine Laboratory and Myakka River State Park as a tribute to her. He remained in his Gulf Gate home for many years before downsizing to a small apartment, and rode his bike everywhere (even though he owned a car) until he had to give it up for health reasons. Abraham said he wants to help more and more students, "as time goes on, even when I'm not around." For years he gave 64 scholarships, said Mimi Goodwill, the foundation's scholarship coordinator. His benchmark was the number of students to fill a bus. "He was not happy to idle at 64," Goodwill said. "Every year he wants to give more. I've never seen a person so devoted to moving forward. It's that important to him." Venice High graduate Leslie King, 17, said the Abraham scholarship is the biggest one she received as she heads to Florida State University to major in business. Other, smaller scholarships will "go towards books and smaller expenses," she said. "This one is helping my tuition tremendously."

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