From 69th Street to Rockefeller Plaza and Hollywood, Upper Darby native Tina Fey has never forgotten where she’s come from.

According to the Philadelphia Business Journal, Fey and her brother Peter recently created a scholarship fund at Temple University in memory of their father, Donald Fey, a Temple alumnus who died in October. Tina – an actress, comedian, writer, and producer – is best known for her work on NBC’s Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock.

In honor of her father’s service in the Korean War, the scholarships will be aimed toward veterans who attend the media and communication school. Donald Fey studied journalism and received his degree in 1966.

Fey mentioned the newly established scholarship fund while appearing on The Tonight Show in early March to promote her new film Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, based on a memoir of a journalist’s wartime experience in Pakistan and Afghanistan. She dedicated the film to her father, a former journalist for Business Week who became a fundraising writer for Penn and Thomas Jefferson University.

“After he came back from Korea, he went to Temple University,” Fey told The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon in speaking about where her father developed his passion for the arts. “He was a great dad and a talented artist and writer, but I also think of him as a great American. He served his country in Korea, he served his city as a fireman, he took his kids regularly to art museums and historical sites. He read poetry and history and newspapers. He was an informed patriot.”

Peter Fey, who in 1984 also graduated from the school of media and communication, now works as a writer/producer for the QVC Network. He said his father was a lifelong learner who taught himself other languages, and surprised the family by speaking French to his nurse in the hospital.

Click here to read more about the scholarship fund Tina Fey and her brother created in honor of their father.

Top photo credit: Tina Fey via photopin (license)