Donor Spotlight: Bobby Srour and Jeanne Grillo

Donor Spotlight

Robert E. "Bobby" Srour ‘82 still has his undergraduate mechanical materials textbook. He keeps it on a desk in his office at the realty company F.S. Peoples, where he’s the engineer of record for a number of industrial development projects.

"I go to the beam tables every other day whenever I’m doing a structural analysis, loading a roof or building trusses," he says. "And that means I’m always going back to those foundational courses from my first two years—statics, dynamics, mechanics, and materials."

For Srour and his wife, fellow Terp Jeanne M. Grillo ‘83, UMD is very much part of the present as well as the past. In recent years, for instance, the couple has made their property in Thurmont, Maryland available for use by the Terps Racing Baja team.

Srour and the team—which represents UMD annually in the Society of Automotive Engineers Baja Collegiate Design Series—go back a long way. He was a member during its first year of operation, which coincided with his senior year. Mentored by the late David C. "Doc" Holloway, professor of mechanical engineering, it won the SAE championship that year.

"We were lucky," Srour says.

But it wasn’t just luck. Srour, who had originally majored in industrial engineering before switching to ME, had abundant machine shop experience. He and other similarly inclined students complemented the more design-focused members of the team. The result was a car that performed as mightily on the track as it did on paper.

Today, Srour and Grillo not only provide Baja competitors with a place for test runs, but they’re also creating opportunities for UMD students through philanthropy. In October 2023, the couple established the Srour and Grillo Family Maryland Promise Scholarship, which provides need-based support for undergraduates living in Maryland or Washington, D.C., with a preference for mechanical engineering students.

As with other Maryland Promise scholarships at UMD, the gift provided by Srour and Grillo was supplemented by UMD under the auspices of the A. James and Alice Clark Foundation’s historic Building Together gift.

Grillo, who took out Pell Grants to help finance her own college education, first at St. Mary’s College and then at UMD, says she sympathizes with the financial burdens facing many students today. “I know that it’s often a struggle to make ends meet,” she said.

That concern resonates with Srour, who graduated into a tough job market and faced his share of career ups-and-downs before achieving professional success.

"We’ve been fortunate and achieved a level of prosperity," Srour says. "This is our way of sharing it."

Published June 26, 2024