Charles “Chuck” Brinker spent more than two decades teaching mathematics at Ramona High School in Riverside. He stayed late to tutor students who needed extra help and had high expectations and held his students to them. Long after his retirement, his daughters still encounter former students who recognize the name and express their gratitude for the education they received from Chuck.
When Chuck passed away from Parkinson’s disease in April 2020, his family wanted to honor his legacy in a lasting way. In 2024, his wife, Pat, established the Charles “Chuck” Brinker Scholarship Fund at IECF, using a qualified charitable distribution from her IRA. The fund is designed to award up to $10,000 annually to graduating Ramona High School or Riverside Unified School District students pursuing a degree in math or a math-related field.
“College was important in our house,” said Karen, one of Chuck’s daughters. “It wasn’t if you went to college, it was when you went to college. And knowing that was how my dad felt, it’s a huge factor in this scholarship because he wanted other kids to have that option as well.“
The Brinker family made their first award in 2025. The inaugural recipient is Gavin McGowan, a Ramona graduate now studying Civil Engineering at UC Berkeley.
Gavin is exactly the kind of student the Brinker family had in mind: driven, community-rooted, and ready to make the most of his education. And there is one more connection that simply could not be scripted. Chuck was not only a math teacher; he was also a skilled carpenter who built furniture, bookcases, and a playhouse for his own family. Gavin, too, is a woodworker and is using those talents to benefit his community.
In his thank-you letter to the Brinker family, Gavin wrote:
To the family of Mr. Chuck Brinker,
From the bottom of my heart, I would like to thank you for this scholarship and the opportunities that it opens up for me. I am proud to be at UC Berkeley, representing Ramona and the entire Inland Empire. I am so proud of where I’m from and the people from my area who do great work like this. I know that Chuck was an amazing math teacher at Ramona, and I am excited to tackle the math in Civil Engineering at Berkeley and show these kids that Ramona math prepared me well. I also know that Chuck was quite the woodworker, as am I. I am currently the construction quality control officer for a woodworking competition team at Cal, Timber Strong, where we just finished building a playhouse for an elementary school in Oakland. Getting this scholarship took the burden of working off my shoulders for this year, and for that, I am eternally grateful to be able to take advantage of all these opportunities. This is all to say that I am so proud and grateful to have received this scholarship, and from such great people. I will not let you or our city down!
IECF is proud to administer the Chuck Brinker Scholarship Fund and honored to watch its first award go to a student who carries forward so much of what Chuck valued: a love of math, a talent for building things, and deep roots in the community he called home.
We are also saddened to share that Pat Brinker passed away on March 27, 2026. Pat was the driving force behind this scholarship, and her generosity will continue to open doors for Inland Empire students for years to come. We extend our heartfelt condolences to the Brinker family and celebrate the enduring impact of everything she set in motion. The family welcomes donations in memory of Pat to the scholarship fund.
Students can apply for the Chuck Brinker Scholarship and other IECF scholarships through our Common Application Portal. If you are interested in establishing a scholarship fund of your own, contact the IECF Charitable Giving team at 951.241.7777 or giving@iegives.org.
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