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Scholarship honors fallen MUSC employee MUSC marked the one-year anniversary of the shooting death of employee Anthony Pirraglia by announcing that it had created a new scholarship fund in his memory Jan. 21. The announcement was made during a special memorial ceremony attended by friends, family, MUSC friends and colleagues and city officials. Pirraglia's wife and children unveiled a plaque in his memory on the corner of Courtenay Drive and Bee Street.    Muriel LaBonté, R.N., lead liver transplant coordinator and friend and colleague of the late Anthony Pirraglia, announces the scholarship established in his memory.   The Anthony Pirraglia Scholarship, which will create educational opportunities for students in the university’s College of Nursing, was started with a $2,000 gift from the Medical University Hospital Authority.  Once the fund reaches $50,000, it will be considered endowed, meaning that the scholarship will exist in perpetuity.      Pirraglia was MUSC’s liver transplant coordinator and a part-time Meducare flight nurse.  On Jan. 19, 2002,  he was killed in a downtown Charleston shooting spree that also claimed the life of off-duty Charleston police officer Dennis LaPage. Mandy Larson, a neonatal intensive care nurse with MUSC, also was shot during the rampage, sustaining injuries that eventually forced her to leave the field of nursing.    Anthony Pirraglia's widow, Cindy, and children Chris and Maria, are joined by Charleston Mayor Joe Riley following the unveiling of a memorial marker for Pirraglia outside MUSC's Wellness Center. “The violent manner in which Tony lost his life stood in such stark contrast with the gentle way he lived it,” said Marilyn Schaffner, administrator for clinical services, Medical University Hospital Authority.  “My hope is that this scholarship will serve as a permanent reminder of the wonderful person he was, as well as an inspiration to the future nurses who will benefit from it.”      Contributions can be made to the MUSC Health Sciences Foundation, PO Box 250450, Charleston, SC, 29425.  Checks should be earmarked for the Anthony Pirraglia Scholarship Fund. Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.