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If you needed help, Fort Worth philanthropist Ruby Dean, who died in 2010, was there – especially if you were a young person seeking a college education. Now, with an assist from her brother, she’s still helping people. Four of them are UNT Health Science Center students.

David Boren, executor of his sister’s estate, is fulfilling her wish to establish scholarships at 10 organizations across the state. As a result, an $800,000 gift from her estate has created a scholarship fund to benefit two physician assistant students and two physical therapy students at the Health Science Center each year.

The desire to assist runs in the family.

"I like helping," Boren said simply. "I don’t think there’s anything I could do that would be of more help. I want to encourage the program any way I can."

Boren is perfect for the role. At 95, he still has energy to spare. He works out three times a week and is an enthusiastic clogger and ballroom dancer.

He’s building on his sister’s life mission. A native of Carthage, Texas, she was working for a law firm when she married geologist David Dean and moved to Fort Worth.

"She was comfortable financially, and she liked to help people," Boren said. "She helped my daughters go to nursing school."

"People are what meant the most to her," added Janice Bostick, who has worked for the Dean family oil business since 1972.

"She did a lot of good deeds, but she wouldn’t take credit for it," Bostick said of

Dean’s adamant refusal to allow a university where she had made a generous gift to name a building in her honor. "She was small and petite – but very strong."

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