Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY – D'Addario & Company, Inc., of Farmingdale, headed by Hofstra alumnus James A. D’Addario, ’72, has created the D’Addario Music Business Endowed Scholarship at Hofstra University.

The scholarship will be awarded each year beginning with the fall 2009 semester to a junior or senior who majors in music merchandising, is able to play at least one instrument and has a minimum G.P.A. of 3.0. An essay will be required by the student, and the award may be given to the same student more than once provided he or she continues to meet the scholarship criteria.
     
D'Addario & Company designs, manufactures, and markets complete lines of strings for fretted and bowed musical instruments, drumheads, drum practice pads, and guitar and woodwind accessories under the proprietary brand names D’Addario, Evans Drumheads, Planet Waves, Rico, and HQ Percussion and PureSound Percussion. The company also runs the popular Gbase.com online gear source. D’Addario products are marketed in approximately 120 countries.

Mr. D’Addario’s family has been producing musical instrument strings for nine generations, dating back to 1680 in the village of Salle, Italy. When an earthquake devastated the village in 1905, two D'Addario family members emigrated to New York City and continued the family trade. Today, the company’s strings and musical accessories are sold in more than 5,400 U.S. music retail stores and in about 100 countries.
 
Mr. D’Addario received the 2002 Small Business Association's Entrepreneur of the Year Award and is listed as the inventor on many musical patents. He also founded The D'Addario Foundation for the Performing Arts and the James D'Addario Family Foundation, Inc.

On receiving a 2007 Hofstra University Alumni Achievement Award, Mr. D’Addario said, "Receiving recognition for my personal accomplishments from my alma mater rekindles the pride and sense of accomplishment that I felt when I received my diploma in 1972."

Of his Hofstra experience, he said, "Midway through my college career, preparing to be a music teacher, the lure of our family business made me change my career plans, and I considered dropping out of college. It was through the encouragement of my professors, and particularly Herb Deutsch '56 [professor emeritus and former chair of the Music Department], that I realized the significance of the educational opportunity I was receiving at Hofstra."

Hofstra University is a dynamic private institution where students can choose from about 145 undergraduate and 155 graduate programs in liberal arts and sciences, business, communication, education and allied human services, and honors studies, as well as a School of Law.