UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State has named David Rosenberg, a 1974 graduate from the College of Health and Human Development and longtime supporter of Penn State Brandywine, and the Moyer family, whose giving and service across two generations of their family has benefited multiple units across the University, as the 2024 Fundraising Volunteers of the Year.

The awards, which recognize individuals, couples or groups who demonstrate exceptional commitment and leadership in building philanthropic support for the University, will be presented at a ceremony this fall. The dual selection reflects Penn State’s ongoing commitment to honoring volunteerism across all of the University’s institutional constituencies.

“David and Marjorie Rosenberg and the Moyer family have shown remarkable generosity in their support for scholarships, programming and infrastructure that advance the University’s mission to serve students, patients and communities,” said Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi. “They have distinguished themselves as leaders, rallying alumni and friends to champion volunteer projects and fundraising that elevate Penn State's impact. I am proud to recognize them as our Fundraising Volunteers of the Year, and truly grateful for the lasting impact of their efforts on Penn State.”

David Rosenberg

As a full-time philanthropist and president of the David and Marjorie Rosenberg Family Foundation, David has been deeply committed to volunteerism at Penn State Brandywine, where he has chaired committees, mentored University staff, and spearheaded initiatives to expand University services and resources for students.

“David is grounded by a profound sense of social and civic responsibility, and he inspires those around him with his energy, passion and hands-on commitment to expanding student opportunities,” said Marilyn J. Wells, regional chancellor for Penn State Brandywine, York and Mont Alto. “Not only did he lead the charge to create pathways for students to become socially responsible leaders and citizens, but he takes the time to personally connect with the campus community and understand the challenges they face in a granular way, so when he confronts a problem, he galvanizes others to be part of the solution. So many positive changes at Penn State Brandywine bear the mark of his influence, and I am proud to be able to celebrate his contributions with this well-deserved award.”

Born in New York and raised in Lower Bucks County 20 miles north of Philadelphia, Rosenberg was drawn to University Park by the sense of University spirit and camaraderie and his interest in Penn State football. Once there, he became a volunteer for the Dance Marathon, now known as THON, during its fledgling years and pledged Beta Sigma Rho (now Beta Sigma Beta). He earned his bachelor’s degree in community development from the College of Health and Human Development in 1974, followed by his juris doctorate from Howard University in 1977.

Rosenberg was a practicing lawyer for several years before joining two partners in purchasing a small environmental insurance company, Environmental Compliance Services, which he helped to convert from a 12-person agency to a 500-person agency with more than $200 million in annual written premiums. Rosenberg retired in 1999 and devoted himself full time to service and philanthropy. Penn State Brandywine became the focus of much of his volunteerism.

“Penn State Brandywine really is a campus of opportunity, especially for students living in marginalized communities,” Rosenberg said. “About 30% of those who enroll at Brandywine are first-generation students, and 70% are working even as they carry a full course load. I was a working college student and assumed student loans. I see myself in the students attending Brandywine. It gives me a sense of extreme satisfaction to assist in their college journey and help alleviate some of their financial burdens.”

The vision and generosity of Rosenberg, along with his wife of 35 years, Marjorie, were the driving force behind the creation of Penn State Brandywine’s Center for Social Impact. The center engages students in nonprofit internships, community-based learning assignments, volunteer opportunities with community partners, and civic engagement events. The Rosenbergs also established the David and Marjorie Rosenberg Trustee Scholarship and the Rosenberg Family Trustee Scholarship for students enrolled at Penn State Brandywine, as well as two scholarship endowments at University Park.

Beyond his own giving, Rosenberg served as chair of Penn State Brandywine’s development committee in the University’s most recent fundraising campaign, “A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence.” His efforts to spur donor engagement played a critical role in helping to exceed Brandywine’s $6.765 million goal three months ahead of schedule. Rosenberg continues to serve on the campus advisory board and is expected to chair Brandywine’s development committee for the next fundraising campaign.

Apart from his volunteer activities at Penn State, Rosenberg has served on many regional organizations’ boards and committees, including the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Foundation Board of Advisors and Special Olympics of Pennsylvania, among others.

Marjorie Rosenberg received her bachelor’s degree in marketing from Saint Joseph’s University. After a career in banking, she left the business world to raise three children. She also started her own nonprofit organization, Care Squares, in which volunteers knit afghans for women transitioning from prison to society, as well as babies and birth mothers working with Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Greater Philadelphia’s Open Arms Adoption Network. The Rosenbergs are Laurel Circle members of the Mount Nittany Society and recipients of the 2022 Dedicated Service and Leadership Award. They have three adult children, Melanie, Jaimie and Andrew. Andrew graduated from Penn State in 2018 with a degree in meteorology. David and Marjorie are also grandparents of Brynlee and Beckham.

“Margie and I started thinking about philanthropy and service as we began to raise a family,” Rosenberg said. “We wanted to teach them the value of giving and making the world a better place. We wanted to be proactive in building a community of caring. I’m proud of our accomplishments and honored to be part of the Brandywine community.” 

Moyer family

The Moyer family’s giving across generations has earned them the distinction of being the first family in Penn State’s history to be recognized as Fundraising Volunteers of the Year. Roger and Grace Moyer, along with their daughters, Jennifer and Elizabeth, and sons-in-law Lance Tavana and Greg Moyer, have played a crucial role in mobilizing volunteerism in service of building a culture of philanthropy at the University. 

“The Moyer family is truly one-of-kind,” said Karen Kim, dean of the College of Medicine. “Their constellation of giving priorities reflects their dynamic commitment to fighting childhood cancer, striving toward health-related equity, and building a pipeline of excellence for promising physicians. Most of all, the Moyer family exemplifies how the spirit of generosity can travel from one generation to the next, and how the ripple effects of that philanthropic leadership can touch so many lives.”

As a family, the Moyers have committed support to Four Diamonds to advance pediatric care research. They also have endowed three scholarships at Penn State’s College of Medicine, one focused on enhancing educational opportunity for promising future physicians, and two equity-focused scholarships geared toward easing the financial burden on students who contribute to the diversity of the student body.

Roger was the first member of his family to attend college, enrolling at the University Park campus in 1966. There, he became a member of Delta Sigma Pi business fraternity and also was admitted to membership in the Beta Gamma Sigma business honor society. But even as many of his peers were focused on sports and other things, Roger was adjusting to service in the Air Force ROTC.

“Both of my parents were Navy veterans who met and served during World War II,” said Roger Moyer. “When you come out of that tradition of sacrifice, you feel an obligation to serve and protect your community. Our family has found that same tradition of service at Penn State, meaning that supporting students and faculty isn’t just a way of helping individuals in isolation but of lifting up a whole network of Penn Staters who care about and look out for each other.”

Drawn to the leadership dimension of the Air Force ROTC program, Roger ended up team teaching several ROTC classes during his junior and senior years. When he entered active duty at a time when many senior officers were engaged in combat zones in Southeast Asia, as a new junior officer he was assigned the position of a squadron commander and executive officer who oversaw more than 600 airmen. 

Roger graduated in 1970 with a degree in finance, and upon completing his two years of military service, he went on to earn his MBA from Southern Illinois University and built a successful career in the banking industry — one that lasted until 2008, when he retired as a regional president of PNC Financial Services.

After leaving the finance industry, Roger scaled up his involvement at Penn State, holding numerous volunteer positions, including as a member of the campaign executive committee for “A Greater Penn State for 21st Century Excellence,” and as chair of the Volunteer Engagement Committee. He recently accepted a role as chair for Penn State Health and the College of Medicine in the University’s new fundraising campaign, now in its quiet phase.

In 1970, Roger married Grace, who was by then already two years into her career as a registered nurse. Grace would spend the first half of her career as a coronary intensive care nurse and the latter half as a supervisor in a nursing home, from which she retired in 1980.

“I went from keeping people alive to helping them die with dignity,” said Grace. “It gave me a special appreciation for the range of ways that people need care. Also, my brother was born with bilateral club feet, and growing up alongside a sibling with a disability, you see firsthand the importance of pediatric care. All these experiences helped shape our philanthropic priorities at Penn State as we thought about how to equip doctors and nurses with the expertise and disposition to deliver high-quality health care.”

In addition to their support for Penn State, Roger and Grace modeled a commitment to service and philanthropy by giving their time and financial resources to many organizations, such as their church and the United Way of Lancaster, among others. For his service to the American Red Cross, Roger was awarded the Clara Barton Honor Award.

Their daughter Jennifer, a 1996 graduate of the College of Health and Human Development, first stumbled upon THON as a middle school student attending a gymnastics competition at University Park. She went on to serve as chapter president and THON co-chair for her sorority, Alpha Delta Pi, and just over a decade later she joined the Four Diamonds Advisory Board as a strategist in its mission to conquer childhood cancer. She became the board’s chair in 2019. After successful stints in college athletics and senior university administration, for which she earned a master’s degree in education from the University of Virginia, Jennifer is now an executive coach and leadership development consultant for the firm she founded in 2013, JSMoyer Consulting. Jennifer’s husband, Lance Tavana, a 2004 graduate of Temple University’s School of Medicine and the current chief of plastic surgery at the Medical University of South Carolina, shares Jennifer’s commitment to improving therapies for children living with pediatric cancer.

Roger and Grace’s younger daughter Elizabeth, who graduated in 2000 from Penn State and majored in business management, also was an officer and member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority and danced in THON in her junior year, where she met children facing cancer who inspired her ongoing support for Four Diamonds. Today, she is managing director at EMPOWER Retirement, the second largest retirement services provider in the United States, and she is in her second year of service on the Four Diamonds Advisory Board. She holds an MBA from St. Joseph’s University. Elizabeth’s husband, Greg Moyer, holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and an MBA, both from West Chester University, and works in information risk management at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Outside of work, Greg is an avid Penn State sports fan and actively supports the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club.

In addition to their collective investment to support cancer research and scholarships, the Moyer family also has directed support to the Smeal College of Business, the Levi Lamb Fund, the Senior Class Gift, the Palmer Museum of Art, the Happy Valley LaunchBox, and the College of Health and Human Development. The Moyers also recently established an Educational Equity Scholarship benefiting undergraduates at University Park. In recognition of their generosity, the couple was inducted into the giving society housed within the Office of the Vice Provost for Educational Equity known as the James B. Stewart Society.

On the basis of their accumulated giving, Roger and Grace Moyer were welcomed into the Mount Nittany Society and the Atherton Society. Beyond Penn State, Roger has been awarded a doctor of public service from Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology in Lancaster in 2010 and was designated an honorary alumnus of the college in 2019.

“Everyone in our family recognizes that Penn State has played a critical role in propelling us forward into meaningful lives and careers,” said Grace. “We feel like it’s so important to give back, certainly, but also to spread the idea that is really the hallmark of THON: people coming together to help people in need. That’s what volunteerism is all about.”

Donors like the Moyers and Rosenbergs advance the University’s historic land-grant mission to serve and lead. Through philanthropy, alumni and friends are helping students to join the Penn State family and prepare for lifelong success; driving research, outreach and economic development that grow our shared strength and readiness for the future; and increasing the University’s impact for families, patients and communities across the commonwealth and around the world. Learn more by visiting raise.psu.edu.