Dr. Jason Adour with the inner ear model gifted to him by his great-uncle, Dr. Kedar Adour.
A Gift Idea and Bequest to Benefit Generations of Students
More than two decades before his passing, Dr. Kedar Karim Adour made a decision about how he wanted his family name to be remembered. That kind of focus and planning has resulted in a $7.6 million gift to the University in the form of a scholarship that will benefit countless students.
Working with the Office of Gift Planning back in 2002, Adour established the Zina Adour Endowed Scholarship Fund in memory of his mother. Kedar Adour passed away Nov. 1, 2024, and now the scholarship has been fully funded through his charitable gift annuities, trust and beneficiary distributions.
“Charitable planned giving is thoughtful and a smart way to give a gift that can benefit you during your lifetime and benefit others afterwards,” says Jason Tripp, executive director of the Office of Gift Planning. Well-planned giving can bring income to the donor, reduce their tax burden and ultimately “leave a tremendous charitable legacy.”
“When you’re leaving a legacy, you’re trying to make a statement about what’s really important to you, and that’s exactly what my great-uncle Kedar did,” says Jason Adour, who remembers his great-uncle as a dedicated physician who wanted his research and work to be meaningful, even groundbreaking. Jason says Kedar’s work ethic, focus and determination to educate other physicians and patients helped “change the world” specifically in the treatment of Bell’s Palsy, a neurologic disorder that affects the facial nerve and is often managed by both neurologists and otolaryngologists (ENTs).
A Passion for Education and Health Care
Adour attended Syracuse University as an undergraduate for one year, and completed his medical degree there (before the medical college evolved into today’s SUNY Upstate Medical University). An ENT specialist, Adour’s focus on education and health care defined his life’s work—and his passion for both wasn’t lost on his relatives.
Jason’s mom still has the teddy bears dressed as doctors that Adour gave her two sons. “Uncle Kedar wanted my sons to go to Syracuse University and to become doctors,” says Colleen Adour. Though Jason pursued a different path in health care, becoming a doctor of physical therapy, he appreciated his great-uncle’s influence. When he was a young boy, Kedar gave him an anatomical model of the inner ear. “Forty years later, I still have it in my clinic and use it to educate patients,” says Jason, a recognized expert in vestibular disorders and a preferred provider for ENT physicians. “I use that model weekly and think of Kedar often.”
Kedar Adour’s journey to professional and financial success was not easy and that, too, was motivation for his desire to create a scholarship in his mother’s name. His parents had emigrated in 1912 to Clark Mills in Oneida County, New York, seeking opportunity and the freedom to marry. Zina Abraham was from Syria and a Christian; Abdel-Karim “Sam” Adour was from Lebanon and a Muslim. Marriage was forbidden for the couple. They came to America to marry, settled in a farming community and had 10 children, including Kedar.
“My mother drummed it into our heads that education is the pathway to a better life,” Adour told a writer for Syracuse University Magazine in 2003. “Unfortunately, my mother died while I was in high school, but I know she would have been absolutely thrilled that I became a doctor.”
Honoring Family
Growing up, Adour was especially sensitive to the challenges facing Arab American children, particularly those desiring higher education. The scholarship in his mother’s name was designed to help others overcome those same hardships. “Education is what takes you ahead,” Adour said in the article. “If people want to leave something of importance behind when they die they should leave a legacy of education.”
Adour’s philosophy is especially poignant today, with institutions nationwide working to make higher education more accessible and affordable for students. Endowed scholarship gifts like Adour’s are particularly valuable, as they provide permanent financial support for future generations.
“We are deeply grateful to Dr. Adour for having the foresight to create this scholarship and the incredible opportunities it will provide students as a result,” says Tracy Barlok, senior vice president and chief advancement officer. “The Adour family legacy will be forever woven into the fabric of Syracuse University, and it’s an honor to carry his vision forward.”
Prolific Researcher
A story Adour told about his medical school experience captures the intensity with which he approached his studies and was written in a letter to the editor in the Upstate Medical Alumni Journal (Winter 2019). “A favorite Upstate memory involves Dr. Phillip Armstrong, professor of anatomy at Upstate, who had the charming habit of taping a penny to the blue book of superior test answers. I desperately wanted one of those pennies and on the final written exam, I wrote pages and pages. When my blue book was returned, I had earned a penny, along with the comment, ‘Not for quality but for quantity!’ When I finally write my autobiography, I will call it ‘A Penny for the Doctor.’”
Though Adour never authored his own biography, his published research was prolific, including papers titled “The Bell Tolls for Bell’s Palsy” and “Mona Lisa Syndrome: Solving the Enigma of the Geoconda Smile.” “My great-uncle knew how to artfully construct the title of a paper, how to make things ‘sticky’ and compelling in the way he wrote up his research results, which made them more memorable,” says Jason Adour.
In the medical field, Kedar Adour will be remembered for those “sticky” titles and the ground-breaking research that transformed treatment for countless patients. At Syracuse University, he will be remembered for a well-planned gift that will transform the lives of countless students through the Zina Adour Endowed Scholarship Fund.
