Our Crowdfunding Groups
Thank you for your support with this Momentum crowdfunding project. This campaign has ended.
Cynthia M. Palfrey passed away on March 3, 2023. She was a loving wife and devoted mother who enjoyed gardening, camping and spending quality time with her family. She loved nurturing and fostering the people around her; an inspiring mentor and leader in the Health and Safety field for more than 20 years.
As an industrial hygienist, Cyndi provided environmental health consulting services to a wide range of industries and litigation support for high profile indoor air quality and mold tort cases. As a Regional Director for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), she was responsible for managing environmental health and safety risk at 480 field locations. She was a lead auditor for the agency's Quality and Occupational Safety and Health certifications, and led the agency’s implementation of OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Program management system receiving STAR status designation -- a first at DHS. Her work resulted in a reduction of the total case injury rate by over 70% and earned her a commendation from the President of the United States. During the pandemic, she served as one of the Emory Health and Safety Office leads for COVID response for the university.
For both Cyndi and her husband, Nic, education was essential in providing the opportunities to advance in life from humbler beginnings. As you may know, Cyndi suffered a setback in her studies during her first year of college when the Florida Hope scholarship she relied on was not renewed. Although the university stepped in to offer some support, she had no other means of supporting herself and was forced to drop out. Cyndi went on to earn her bachelor's degree in environmental science and Masters degree in Environmental Health and Industrial Hygiene before becoming a Certified Safety Professional.
To honor Cyndi's memory and to continue to support and foster students in the field she loved so much, her family would like to establish a fund to support student success at Emory's Rollins School of Public Health. The fund would be a permanent endowment, creating a legacy for Cyndi and honoring all the richness she bought to our lives. And we hope, even in some small part, help public health students facing financial hardship that would otherwise prevent them from completing their studies.
The family is contributing all of the funds that were generously raised to help settle medical bills, as well as the balance of an unexpected life insurance policy, to create this new hardship fund. However, this amount falls short of the threshold to meet a permanent endowment at Emory. We invite you to help memorialize Cyndi’s legacy with a gift to the Cynthia M. Palfrey Endowment for Student Support . Thank you in advance for your continued kindness and generosity.
By giving through this campaign, your gift will be designated for the Cynthia M. Palfrey Endowment for Student Support within the Gifts Pending Designation-Public Health Endowment account, a holding account until the $50,000 endowment threshold is achieved. Should the minimum funding required to endow the scholarship not be met by 8/31/2024, then gifts will be redirected to an expendable student hardship fund for the same purpose. You will see "Gifts Pending Designation-Public Health Endowment" on your receipt for your gift.