WVU scholarship created in memory of Doug Skaff

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WBOY) — The family of Doug Skaff, a former West Virginia lawmaker who died in a vehicle accident earlier this year, has created a scholarship for West Virginia University business students in his honor.

A class of 2000 WVU graduate himself, Skaff had a lasting impact on the campus; he founded multiple clubs and organizations while he was a student, including the Mountaineer Maniacs and WVUp All Night, and was voted Mr. Mountaineer in 1999-2000, according to a press release from WVU.

“He wanted the world to know that WVU was the dominant university in the state and entire country,” Doug Skaff’s sister Teresa Skaff said in the release. “He’d find a way to slip in WVU in every conversation. If there was no conversation and he was just passing by a fellow Mountaineer, he’d yell ‘Let’s Go, Mountaineers!’ with a number one held high in the air. His passion was that of a true Mountaineer.”

Skaff would go on to have several successful business ventures and serve in the West Virginia House of Delegates as a representative for Kanawha County from 2018-2023.

He was killed in a collision involving a tractor-trailer on Interstate 79 in Lewis County on June 10.

The Douglas J. Skaff Jr. Mountaineer Spirit Scholarship will be awarded to West Virginia resident undergraduate students enrolled in programs through the WVU John Chambers College of Business and Economics. The scholarship is funded with memorial gifts made following Skaff’s death.

“That our loved ones remember us is important — how they remember us, even more so,” Josh Hall, Milan Puskar Dean of the Chambers College, said in the release. “The Skaff family’s gift in honor of Doug speaks to his commitment to West Virginia and WVU.”

Preference for the scholarship will be given to students who are involved in the Mountaineer Maniacs and Student Government Association, like Doug was.