Ithaca College

Mark Dicker ’77 became fascinated with IC long before he arrived as a student, and his loyalty has continued well after graduation. Among other commitments, Mark and his wife, Susan, have pledged $250,000 to the athletics and events center and have established the Dicker Family Endowed Scholarship in honor of their daughter Jaclyn, a senior at IC. Mark also serves on the alumni association’s board of directors. For the Dickers, wearing Ithaca blue is a family tradition.

“At 14, I knew I was coming to Ithaca,” Mark says. In the late 1960s, Ithaca College was one of the few institutions with a program in health administration, and Mark knew he wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps, managing several nursing homes in and around New York City.

Today, Mark’s youngest daughter, Jaclyn, is attending Ithaca, though he’s quick to point out, “I didn’t push her to apply.” He remembers that after attending his 10-year reunion, he gave Jaclyn, who was then only a year old, his Ithaca College T-shirt. Family photographs of Jaclyn as a toddler show her wearing the T-shirt around the house.

“I never imagined I’d have a child of mine going to Ithaca,” Mark says proudly. The scholarship Mark and Susan have endowed in honor of Jaclyn is awarded to students with financial need who, like Jaclyn, are majoring in art.

“So often people make gifts ‘in memory of’ someone,” he says, “but I wanted to do it while she’s still here.”

Mark and Susan have also made a $250,000 commitment to the athletics and events center (plus a $2,500 gift in memory of Susan DiPace ’74). As a student, Mark remembers spending several hours each evening shooting baskets in the College gym. Asked why he supports IC so generously, he responds: “It was a combination of everything: my history here, and my daughter’s.”

Mark is also a member of the Ithaca College Alumni Association Board of Directors. He finds it funny that someone so shy as a student is now so actively involved with the College, but that’s the magic of Ithaca, where, he notes with delight, people are “a thousand times nicer” than they are at other schools.