- About
- Prospective Students
- Undergraduate
- Graduate
- Programs
- Courses
- Mini course
- Advising
- Awards & funding
- Herbert G. Grubel Award
- James Dean Award
- Lang Wong Memorial Endowment Scholarship
- Meiyu Li Memorial Scholarship in Economics
- Peter Kennedy Memorial Graduate Entrance Scholarship in Economics
- Peter Kennedy Memorial Graduate Fellowship
- Richard G. Lipsey Award
- Terry Heaps Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award
- Shiva and Elizabeth Nanda Graduate Fellowship in Economics
- Shiva and Elizabeth Nanda Graduate Scholarship in Economics
- Job market candidates
- Graduate student profiles
- Student publications
- Research
- Community
- Department Login
Alumni
Alumnus Rob Scharff leaves generous gift in will to help economics students
When economics alumnus Rob Scharff passed away last summer, he left behind a generous bequest to the Department of Economics where he once studied as a graduate student.
A retired faculty member from Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU), Rob knew first-hand that many students struggle to find a balance between going to school, working and spending time with their families. With tuition fees and the cost of living in the Lower Mainland on the rise, Rob made this gift in his will with the hopes it would help students by alleviating some of their financial burden.
The Rob Scharff Memorial Bursary in Economics will go on to support economics students at Simon Fraser University (SFU). The Department is deeply grateful for this generous gift made by an alumnus who had dedicated their career to economics education.
Remembering Rob Scharff
After graduating from the SFU Economics master's program in 1984, Scharff went on to hold numerous teaching positions including a two-year stint at a university in Africa. An educator at heart with 33 years of post-secondary teaching experience, Scharff was a regular faculty member in the Department of Economics and School of Business at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) where he worked for the last 25 years. Prior to that, he taught at York University in Toronto. His teaching interests lie in principles of economics, labour economics, and income distribution.
Scharff was also a member of the Western Economic Association International and held a Commission from Her Majesty the Queen, having served Canada for 13 years as a member of the Royal Canadian Naval Reserve.