Estate gift to Dorothy Helen McRobb Scholarship fund will support generations of students to come

May 29, 2025

An elderly woman seated and smiling. — *Dorothy Helen McRobb was a Woodsworth College alumna and longtime donor who passed away in 2023.*

When Woodsworth College alumna and longtime donor Dorothy Helen McRobb passed away in May 2023, she left a transformational estate gift to bolster the scholarship fund she had established in her name 20 years earlier. With this additional gift, the Dorothy Helen McRobb Scholarship is now the largest award at Woodsworth College.

Previously, more than 20 Woodsworth students who demonstrated academic merit and financial need received support from the McRobb fund each year. That number will now grow, thanks to McRobb’s generous estate gift, which monumentally increased the fund’s original endowment.

“Receiving an award in the amount that may cover a significant portion of tuition makes a huge difference in the financial well-being of a student,” says Yvonne Hilder, an awards officer at Woodsworth College.

A life-changing scholarship

The Dorothy Helen McRobb Scholarship has been life changing for students like Ishani Sharma, a 2024 recipient. Sharma recently earned her honours bachelor of science with a double major in environmental science and biodiversity and conservation biology.

“I have spent the last four years devoted to excelling within my degree and gaining knowledge of environmental issues around the world,” Sharma said when she received the award. “This scholarship is the first I have received in recognition of my merit, and it was wonderful to begin my final semester with this fortunate news.”

Sharma is now pursuing a master’s in environmental science at University of Toronto Scarborough. She says the McRobb scholarship has played a major part in enabling her continued academic pursuits.

“My family has always been supportive of my goals, but there is no doubt this scholarship will help alleviate the financial stresses and considerations that come with academia,” Sharma says.

A woman with a big smile wearing her graduation gown.

McRobb had a close relationship with U of T and Woodsworth College, where she studied while working toward her bachelor of arts in 1972. She’d previously earned a certificate in institutional management in 1952 at the university.

After becoming an accountant, McRobb worked for the Ontario government, rising to the position of acting vice-chair on the Ontario Municipal Board. She later found success in the stock market and made the decision to give most of her money away.

Planning for the future

When the Canadian Government introduced the zero capital gains inclusion rate for donations of publicly traded securities made directly to charity, McRobb used this tax incentive to make her gifts go farther. A self-taught but savvy investor, she continued to donate stock from that point forward. Further planning with her advisor led her to include wording in her will instructing her executor to donate stocks directly to U of T. This smart planning ensured that her estate received an official tax receipt for the current value of the donated stock, while eliminating the capital gains tax her estate would have paid if the stock were sold first.

“Dorothy knew the unpredictability of the markets. She prudently worded her bequest gift to give her executor the ability to donate shares that had gone up in value,” says Michelle Osborne, Executive Director, Gift Planning at U of T. “This meant that no matter the make-up of her portfolio at the time, her legacy gift would be successful and the impact of her scholarship would grow.”

There is no doubt this scholarship will help alleviate the financial stresses and considerations that come with academia.

“Education is very important,” McRobb said in an interview with U of T Magazine in 2006. A resolute philanthropist in life, McRobb’s final gift to U of T will continue to support generations of future students.

There is no doubt this scholarship will help alleviate the financial stresses and considerations that come with academia.

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