Upper Darby native, comedian and actress Tina Fey shared a moment Wednesday night on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. “After dedicating her new movie “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” to her father, Donald Fey, who died at age 82 from heart failure in October, Fey announced the Donald H. Fey Memorial Scholarship. The scholarship is a fund set up by Fey’s family. It will award money to returning veterans who want to study journalism at Temple University’s School of Media and Communication.
Tina Fey and her family lived around the corner from St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox church in Upper Darby where they were members though the 80’s. She credits much of her writing to her youth and experiences growing up in Upper Darby.
“My dad served in Korea and he also was a journalist at the beginning of his career,” Fey said in the announcement. “After he came back from Korea, he went to Temple University — Philly! Right? – Temple University School of Journalism.” The Roots cheered the hometown shout-out.
Donald Fey, who died in October, studied journalism at Temple in the 1960s after returning from military service in Korea. The Donald H. Fey Memorial Scholarship is for returning veterans who want to study journalism. Fey said her father, who grew up in Philadelphia, inspired her and her brother Peter, a writer and producer for QVC, to pursue creative careers.
Said Peter Fey, Tina’s brother and a 1984 Temple graduate, to the university’s news site:
“I think a great legacy for him would be someone who takes that and goes into the field and does so wholeheartedly,” Peter Fey said, “But you have to be able, like a referee, to set your own beliefs aside and look at the facts to report the story.
By the way he lived, you know, by his code, he showed us the right way to live life: to be open-minded, to get the facts, and to experience all life had to offer.”
Temple School of Media and Communication Dean David Boardman announced, the scholarship memorial fund has received some sizable gifts, including from Fallon.