Vanderbilt U Announces Scholarship in Memory of Tel Aviv Terror Victim Taylor Force

Taylor Force Image by US Military

By Ami Eden (JTA) March 20, 2016

(JTA) — Vanderbilt University has named a new scholarship in honor of the graduate student killed in a terrorist stabbing attack in Tel Aviv earlier this month.

The Taylor Force Memorial Scholarship was announced by Chancellor Nicholas Zeppos on Friday during a campus memorial service for Force, an MBA student at the Nashville, Tennessee, university who was on a school trip to Israel to learn about the high-tech industry when he was killed on March 8.

As many as 10 people were wounded in the attack — including Force’s wife — at and near the Jaffa Port.

Force was a 2009 graduate of the West Point U.S. Military Academy and saw tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Zeppos said the scholarship is designed to support fellow West Point and other academy graduates who, like Force, have demonstrated their abilities and commitment to leadership and service.

“Taylor embodied all that we strive for at Vanderbilt: excellence, service to society, leadership and generosity of spirit,” Zeppos said.

He added: “The Taylor Force Memorial Scholarship ensures that the impact he had on us will continue to inspire future generations of students.”

At the time of the attack that killed Force, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was less than two miles away meeting with former Israeli President Shimon Peres at the Peres Center for Peace.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO