By Sara Martin
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

Bill Bliss is no ordinary philanthropist.

For the better part of three decades,  Bliss has poured his time and resources into students at the Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel and Restaurant Management on the University of Houston’s main campus.

It’s a role he didn’t seek, but one he has embraced. Bliss’s daughter, Becky, was a student at Hilton College at the time of her unexpected death in  December 1983. A month later Bliss established the Becky Bliss Memorial Scholarship Fund to honor her memory.

Since then the scholarship has provided 91 years of funded studies for 56  students; it is currently one of the largest privately endowed scholarships at the college.

‘A mentor and a friend’
Bliss takes a personal interest in each scholarship recipient and makes a point to keep in touch after graduation.

“It’s extraordinary. He’s a mentor and a friend,” says Clare Sullivan Jackson, the first Becky Bliss scholar, who is now president and CEO of The Sullivan Group, Houston’s largest corporate meeting and event production company. “‘Dad Bliss’ helped me get where I am today. I am indebted to him.”

When a representative from Hilton College contacted her about establishing a scholarship to honor Bliss in his own right, Jackson was delighted. “You never want to forget the people who helped you accomplish your goals,” she says.

Jackson and fellow Becky Bliss scholar Cathy Cheatham signed on as cochairs of the Wyllys K. “Bill” Bliss Scholarship Endowment Committee. Funded by donors who contributed to the Becky Bliss Memorial Scholarship Fund, the new endowment celebrates Bliss’s “legacy of friendship and philanthropy,” says Jackson.

Hoping to surprise Bliss, Jackson and Cheatham planned to announce the new scholarship at Hilton College’s Gourmet Night.

Black-tie affair
Since 1974 Gourmet Night has served as the annual culmination of student learning at Hilton College. It provides an opportunity for students to manage  every aspect of a sophisticated banquet.