The Journal pays tribute to Robert “Bob” Toll L’66 and his tremendous impact at Penn Carey Law and the legal profession.
Above: Robert Toll L’66, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Toll Brothers Inc., at the Reuters Real Estate Summit in New York, June 27, 2007.
Through the Robert and Jane Toll Foundation, Robert “Bob” Toll L’66 and his wife, Jane Toll GSE’66, provided unprecedented support for the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School’s global public interest community. Sadly, Bob Toll passed away in October 2022.
In the Summer 2023 issue of Penn Carey Law’s alumni magazine, The Journal, students, faculty, and alumni share their gratitude for Toll’s visionary leadership and generosity.
Excerpts from The Journal:
The number of lives the Tolls have changed, and will continue to change, is exponential, like a gentle ripple of good that compounds into thousands and then millions over time.
“He made it clear: ‘Please, please do something good for the people with these degrees you have. That is why I put together this scholarship and this program. Make sure you are doing something good for the public.’ It really sat with me in that moment. I’m sitting at this table because this man gave me the scholarship money, and I have to refocus my heart and vision on making sure I’m giving back.” - Marlon D. Amprey L’16
Former Toll Scholar Blair Bowie L’17 manages the Washington, D.C.-based Campaign Legal Center’s Restore Your Vote project, which focuses on ending felony disenfranchisement by democratizing access to rights restoration services and working with directly impacted communities to dismantle systemic barriers to the ballot box through advocacy, litigation, and policy change.
Another former Toll Scholar, Kevin Hollinz L’13, is a staff attorney at the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project in Seattle, Washington, specializing in citizenship cases involving complex criminal immigration issues.
In 2016, Sheerine Alemzadeh L’11 co-founded Chicago-based Healing to Action (HTA), which responds to the ongoing demand of survivors to address the root causes of gender-based violence, including economic inequity, racial injustice, ableism, and heteropatriarchy. Since its founding, HTA has collaborated with more than 500 workers to deepen their political education and develop new strategies to end gender-based violence in their communities.
“It is because of Bob and Jane’s astounding generosity that the Toll Public Interest Scholars and Fellows programs were born, and it is the reason they have been able to grow and thrive.” - Emily Sutcliffe, Executive Director of the Toll Public Interest Center (TPIC)