Serving Individuals and Families
The Eric Marder Scholarship Program of The Immune Deficiency Foundation

The Immune Deficiency Foundation is honored to award scholarships to undergraduate students living with primary immunodeficiency diseases who plan on completing their secondary education.  The Eric Marder Scholarship Program is open to patients with a primary immunodeficiency as classified by the World Health Organization and is intended for undergraduate students attending or entering college or a technical training school. 

The Eric Marder Scholarship Program of the Immune Deficiency Foundation is made possible by unrestricted donations to the scholarship program.  Eric was diagnosed with Common Variable Immune Deficiency (CVID) at the age of five.  With limited physical endurance, Eric's participation in physical activities was restricted, so his attention turned to other interests, including cooking.  Eric started selling his home-baked cookies door-to-door and despite his health problems, attended college and graduated from the Culinary Institute in Baltimore , Maryland .  At the time of his death he was a chef at a nursing home.  Unfortunately, at the age of 28 he died from complications of primary immunodeficiency disease.

People from all over the country attended Eric's funeral and sent money to his family in his memory.  During the months prior to Eric's death, IDF had been helpful in seeing that Eric could get the IVIG infusions he needed.  Because of this Eric's mom and his godmother decided to create a fund to honor Eric's life by helping students with primary immunodeficiency diseases attend college.