Roger and Judy Ecker establish Charitable Remainder Trust to support future students

Left: Keamiyah Walker, ELMSN-FNP ’23, Ecker Scholarship recipient;
Right: Judy and Roger Ecker with SMU President Ching-Hua Wang (center).

Keamiyah Walker, ELMSN-FNP '23, initially pursued education to understand why low-income individuals suffer worse health outcomes. After earning her bachelor's in public health, she sought deeper knowledge by joining the Samuel Merritt nursing program.

"My undergraduate degree helped me understand social determinants of health, but I needed more. The Samuel Merritt nursing program prepared me for working with marginalized populations, who lack access to care, and who are medically and socially complex," she says.

Walker's drive stems from personal loss; her mother, a low-income teen mom, died of meningitis when Keamiyah was seven. This inspired her to become a nurse. Now, she works at the same community hospital where her mother passed away.

Her nursing journey began amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In her second semester, she worked on the front lines at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland. "There were hundreds of patients, people were passing away, and there were too many bodies to fit in the morgue. It was intense, but a great learning experience," she recalls.

Despite the challenges, Walker persevered. As a single mom, she balanced work and school, auditing additional courses, and relying on student loans. Her efforts were recognized with several grants and scholarships, including the Ecker Scholarship for nursing students with academic merit and economic need. "The Ecker Scholarship supported my travel to FNP clinical sites and provided necessary school supplies," she explains.

Judy and Roger Ecker, who have supported SMU and its students through charitable donations since 1975, met Walker at a scholarship luncheon. "Keamiyah is amazing," says Judy Ecker. "We are incredibly impressed by her accomplishments."

Beyond annual gifts, the Eckers also established a charitable remainder trust that is designated to support their endowed scholarship fund. Charitable remainder trusts allow donors to establish a future legacy gift by transferring cash and assets to a trust that can pay the donors interest income and gives them a tax deduction. Eventually, the remaining funds will directly benefit the school and students like Walker.

"There are a lot of first-generation college students at Samuel Merritt like Keamiyah who are working hard, and we want to support them," says Roger Ecker. Judy agrees, adding, "Keamiyah is ambitious and inspiring and has really succeeded in a lot of ways. It's just made us so proud to know that we played some little, tiny part in what she has done with her life."

Learn more about Charitable Remainder Trusts and other ways to support SMU at smu.pub/crut.