Four Sisters Scholarship

Charlotte (Chuckie) Garelick Holstein ’46 and Alexander Holstein established the Four Sisters Scholarship to honor Mrs. Holstein and her sisters, Bettie Garelick Roth ’44, Salmone Garelick Noun ’42, and Sylvia Garelick Allison Kaplan ’38/ ’58, all of whom credit their multiple successes to their education at SUNY Brockport.

A founder and retired director of F.O.C.U.S. Greater Syracuse, a citizen-driven, not-for-profit organization that promotes intelligent decision-making by citizens through education, Mrs. Holstein identifies herself as a civic trustee who has sought to improve the quality of life for all people, locally and globally.

She also actively supported Leadership Greater Syracuse, the Syracuse Commission for Women, Meals on Wheels, and the City/County Office on Aging. She served on the Advisory Committee for the White House Conferences for Families under former President Jimmy Carter, on the New York State Board of Social Welfare under former Governor Nelson Rockefeller, and as a member of the New York State Division for Youth under former Governor Hugh Carey. The judges of the New York State Court of Appeal appointed her as a trustee of the New York State Lawyers Fund for Client Protection, where she served for 16 years.

In honor of her service to national and international communities, in 1998 she received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Le Moyne College, and in May 2015 she received a Doctor of Letters Honoris Causa degree from Syracuse University

A former member of the Brockport Foundation Board of Directors, she was recognized by the New York State Senate as a New York Woman of Distinction. She and her husband were married for more than 72 years when he passed away in 2020. They have four children, eight grandchildren, four step-grandchildren, and several great-grandchildren.

To qualify for the Four Sisters Scholarship, students must be accepted as an incoming freshman at SUNY Brockport and demonstrate academic excellence and financial need as determined by the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Students also must submit a letter of recommendation from a high school teacher or administrator, and provide a one-to-two page essay describing their love of learning, commitment to higher education, and intended career.