Fred Wilpon is living the American Dream. The 81-year-old majority owner of the New York Mets is an ultrasuccessful real estate developer and family man.
But it wasn’t always smooth sailing. Wilpon recalls being a teen who arrived at the University of Michigan as the first person in his family to attend college. He butted up against some issues that might have sidetracked his dreams if not for the help of others.
Never forgetting that assistance, he launched the Kessler Presidential Scholarship Program at U-M’s College of Literature, Science and the Arts to help hundreds of other first-generation college students succeed.