Miami's Tony Varona Is Fifth Law School Dean To Give At Least $100,000 To Students

A Look Back One Year After Becoming Dean, Tony Varona Navigates Miami Law Onward and Upward:

When Miami Law welcomed Anthony Eudelio Varona to lead the law school in 2019, he said he applied a lesson from early in life. “As a kid I learned to swim by jumping into the deep end as soon as I could,” he said. “That’s exactly what I did to prepare for a successful start to my deanship here.” Little could he have imagined the foreshadowing of his remark.

No one could have expected the world―and traditional legal education―would be irrevocably changed by the global COVID-19 pandemic. ...

Early on, his conviction in Miami Law’s fortitude was displayed when he was one of the first law deans to make a major gift to the law school they lead. With his husband John Gill, Varona pledged $100,000 to support student scholarships and the school’s greatest needs, and announced it at his chair investiture [on December 9, 2019]."

“John and I felt so strongly about the future and promise of Miami Law that we decided, early in my deanship, to make this initial gift,” Varona said. “And, in light of the effects of COVID-19 on our students in particular, we accelerated our payments so that the funds could be put to immediate use.”

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

• Penn State Dickinson Law Dean Danielle Conway Makes $125,000 Gift For Student Aid During COVID-19 (Aug. 5, 2020)
• Pepperdine Caruso Dean Follows Lead Of Penn State Dickinson Dean In Giving $125,000 To Help Law Students With Emergency Needs (Aug. 11, 2020)
• Deans Double As Donors (Aug. 18, 2020)
• FIU's Antony Page Is Third Law School Dean To Make Major Gift To Students During COVID-19 (Aug. 21, 2020)
• Inspired By Penn State Dickinson Dean, Faculty And Staff Give $27,000 For Law Students (Aug. 26, 2020)
• More Dean Generosity: Who Will Be Next? (Aug. 27, 2020)
• University Of Florida's Laura Rosenbury Is Fourth Law School Dean ($100,000), Neil Buchanan Is Second Tax Prof ($25,001) To Make Major Gifts To Students During COVID-19 (Sept. 2, 2020)
• Arizona State Law Faculty And Staff Have Given $5 Million For Students Over Past Decade (Sept. 15, 2020)
• Yet Another Generous Dean: Laura Rosenbury (Sept. 22, 2020)