Aviation Scholarship

Dennis Purduski, of Brandon, MS, was an SSA member and CFIG who trained numerous young pilots to fly. His passion for aviation was wide-reaching; in addition to being an active glider instructor he was also well known as an RC modeler and pilot; he was a past USA World Team Manager for RC helicopter competition. Dennis flew gliders with the Central Mississippi Soaring Society where he was an active instructor at the time of his death in 2016 from natural causes. Dennis was passionate about aviation of all types, but soaring in particular. Dennis particularly enjoyed instructing young students. He saw soaring as a low-cost way to introduce people to aviation. When Dennis passed away he left his entire estate to the Dennis Purduski Charitable Aviation Fund of the Community Foundation for Mississippi, naming two beneficiaries; an aviation scholarship at Kansas University and the SSA to fund training for persons 13 through 19 years of age to fly solo in gliders.