Flip Wilson, most famous for dressing in drag as Geraldine, is the benefactor of a new scholarship for black journalism majors at Rutgers University.
John Pavlik, chairman of the journalism and media studies department on Rutgers' New Brunswick, N.J., campus, said the first recipient of the annual $23,500 Flip Wilson scholarship will be selected next spring.
The decision will be based in part on a 500-word essay that focuses on some aspect of Wilson's work and its impact on television or comedy, Pavlik said.
Wilson died of liver cancer in 1998. He didn't have a journalism background, but his friend and former publicist, Kathleen Fearn-Banks, helped convince him that it was a field where his money could make an impact on the black community after his death.
The comedian then agreed to put a clause in his will that provided funding for annual scholarships at Rutgers and other schools across the nation.
Fearn-Banks, now a communications professor at the University of Washington, said Rutgers will be among the first universities to receive the money.
"Rutgers was selected because it offers the leading journalism program in Flip's home state," she said. Scholarships also will be set up at the University of Washington, Wayne State University in Michigan, California State University-Northridge, and Howard University in Washington, D.C.
Wilson, whose given name was Clerow, was born in Jersey City in 1933. He earned his nickname during a stint in the Air Force because of his flippant sense of humor that he used to entertain his fellow troops.
He is best known for portraying Geraldine, a smart-mouthed, wig- and minidress-wearing woman whose catch phrases were "What you see is what you get!" and "The devil made me do it!"
He was the host of "The Flip Wilson Show" from 1970-74.