Mr. Edward F. Herold, Jr. '83

For Edward F. Herold, Jr. ’83, enrolling at Frostburg was his first chance to get away from his parents and his four siblings, to experience life on his own. “I did a lot of growing up there,” Herold said. He found himself revisiting those college memories in 2013, when Herold and his classmates returned to Frostburg State University for their 30-year reunion. That visit kindled a notion that grew into the new Herold Family Scholarship , an award supporting full-time Frostburg STEM under- graduates.
“I was hanging out with a bunch of friends and walking around campus and we passed [FSU’s Wall of Honor]. We were checking out dorms where we used to live, and I saw the wall and realized I hadn’t thought about a lot of the people who aren’t around anymore,” he said. “That wasn’t the day that I thought of the scholarship, but I was trying to figure out some way to give back to Frostburg.”
The independence Herold found at Frostburg has served him well through his career. Following stints with several small CPA firms, he earned a master’s degree in taxation and went to work for a large corporation. By 1991, Herold had opened a CPA firm of his own, which has catered to individuals and small businesses ever since. “I’m a one-man band,” Herold said. “I’ve got a couple of bookkeepers who help me out part-time, but primarily it’s just me. And I like doing tax work, so that’s kind of where I’m focused. There’s always something going on in the tax world.” Thanks in part to frequently changing federal and state tax policies, Herold’s business has prospered. With that success came a desire to give back to others. “Over the last five or 10 years, I’ve been trying to make an effort to get a little more involved in different charities. … I get the idea of making a living and having a job and all that stuff, but I’d like to think there’s more to life than just doing that.”
As Herold was pondering how best to give back, he read a news article about a new scholarship. It was just the inspiration he needed. “It reminded me of what I’d gone through,” Herold said. “I remember the challenge of paying for everything.” He’d worked during the summers in high school, and his father frequently brought home scholarship applications to fill out. Herold applied for everything he could. The scholarships he earned reduced the cost of school, but he continued working multiple jobs as a Frostburg student. “Education was a big thing in my family. My parents were both big on getting to school and staying in school. You’re always learning something throughout your life.”
Herold hopes his family’s new scholarship will help future generations of students find their own paths through life – perhaps even a student destined for something great. “Who knows, maybe one of those kids will cure cancer someday, or they’ll do something important,” he said. “And they might not remember it years later, but they’ll have gotten a scholarship from my family.”
[Published Fall 2016]