Tonya Malinowski / News Editor

Central Connecticut State University received a substantial gift from a private donor to provide scholarship support to students from the greater New Britain area. 

Anthony Bichum, 93, founded the Helen G. Bichum fund in his late wife’s name and donated $600,000 to the University on March 31. Bichum, a lifelong New Britain resident, previously made the largest donation ever by a private citizen last spring. 

“I believe highly in education because I never had it,” Bichum said when presenting the gift last year. “Maybe my giving will inspire others to do the same, because those who benefit from education have an obligation to help those who follow.”

The fund is specifically for students from New Britain and surrounding areas, with 20 percent earmarked for those with disabilities. The previous donation was made to the School of Engineering and Technology, who memorialized a laboratory in honor of the Bichums’ generosity.

“[Mr. Bichum] has already been extremely generous,” University President Jack Miller said. “This really couldn’t come at a better time.”

Bichum, a lifelong New Britain resident, is the son of Russian immigrants and spent most of his life working in the tool- and die-making industry. His formal education ended at age 13, and he later served in the U.S. Army in Europe during World War II. 

“He never went to school, so to give other students the opportunity is something he feels really strongly about,” Fund Executor Paul Gianaris said. 

Gianaris, a CCSU graduate of the class of 1970, said he encouraged Bichum to donate the money to CCSU.

From his humble beginnings as a shoeshine boy at a New Britain brokerage firm, Bichum overheard the men discussing investment and stock market tips and decided to begin investing himself at age 18.

His unprecedented success in the stock market is what allowed Bichum the opportunity to give back to the community of New Britain and eventually travel extensively through Europe and the United States. 

“We really just can’t thank him enough,” Miller said. “It’s really incredible.”