Mark Bingham Leadership Fund

Mark Bingham was a strapping 220-pound, 6-foot-5 rugby player who had fought off muggers on the street and run with the bulls in Spain before taking on the terrorists on United Flight 93.

One of the heroes to emerge from America's biggest tragedy, Bingham has also become a symbol of hope to the nation's gays — a man whose sexual orientation made no difference when lives were at stake.

Bingham, who lived most of his life in Northern California but moved to New York not long before the terrorist attacks, also was a proven leader.

He had coached his gay rugby team, the San Francisco Fog, was president of his fraternity at the University of California at Berkeley and started his own public relations firm, the Bingham Group, in San Francisco and New York.

The Mark Bingham Leadership Fund will provide scholarships to students with interests that coincide with Mark's, including Berkeley, Chi Psi Fraternity, the sport of rugby, and those with qualities including team orientation, sociability, leadership and heroism.

Some of this biography was taken from the 10/22/01 AP Wire story, "Gay Hero Emerges From Highjackings."

Visit the Mark Bingham memorial website to learn more about him and read about recipients of the Mark Bingham Leadership Scholarship.

Contributions to the California Community Foundation represent irrevocable gifts subject to the legal and fiduciary control of the foundation's Board of Directors.

Click here to make a secure contribution to this fund now.