Brehm Scholars Program: The Donor
The Donor
Born and raised in Dearborn, Michigan, William K. Brehm is a graduate of Fordson High School and the University of Michigan. While at Michigan he received a Regents’ Alumni Scholarship that covered his undergraduate tuition.
Bill majored in mathematics and physics when he attended U-M in the late 1940s/early 1950s, graduating with honors in mathematics. He began his career in advanced engineering in the aerospace industry. In the late 1960s, he served as assistant secretary of the Army, and in the 1970s as assistant secretary of defense in the Ford Administration. He is co-founder and former executive chair of SRA International, Inc., a technology and strategic consulting firm. He has also served as a director of the Herman Miller Corporation of Michigan; as board chair for CNA, a non-profit institution that conducts high-level research and analysis to inform the important work of public sector decision makers; and as board chair for Fuller Theological Seminary where the Brehms have created the Brehm Center for Worship, Theology, & the Arts.
Proud of the role that his Fordson and U-M education played in his distinguished career, Bill Brehm established the Brehm Scholarships, full resident tuition awards to encourage accomplished Fordson students to attend the University of Michigan. He also created the Brehm Medical School Scholarships for those Brehm Scholars who go on to study at the University of Michigan Medical School. While resident and non-resident Fordson graduates will be considered for the scholarship, the scholarship provides scholarship support equivalent only to in-state tuition.
For the past decade, the Brehms have played a vital role in the evolutionary progress of the University of Michigan, donating more than $60 million to support a range of projects and programs, including the eight story 230,000 square foot addition to the Kellogg Eye Center and the founding of the Brehm Center for Diabetes Research & Analysis. Recently, the U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance (SMTD) received an $8 million gift from the Brehms to renovate and expand one of the school’s principal North Campus buildings, the Earl V. Moore Building.