Anthony “Tony” Gobar Juvenile Justice Scholarship Fund Marks 20 Years at the Community Foundation for Mississippi
The Anthony “Tony” Gobar Juvenile Justice Scholarship Fund at the Community Foundation for Mississippi marks 20 years of supporting students pursuing careers in juvenile justice and related fields.
Anthony “Tony” Gobar and family
Anthony “Tony” Gobar never wanted the spotlight. He was content to do the work — listening, mentoring, advocating and helping build better systems for young people who too often slipped through the cracks. This year, the Anthony “Tony” Gobar Juvenile Justice Scholarship Fund at the Community Foundation for Mississippi marks 20 years of supporting students pursuing careers in juvenile justice and related fields.
For Tony’s family, the scholarship fund is not just a milestone. It is a way to carry forward the life and values of a man they remember as steady, selfless and deeply committed to helping others.
A Life of Service
Angela Gobar first met Tony in Lafayette, Louisiana, where she had moved for her first job. They worked in the same office building, though not for the same company. Over time, friendship turned into dating, and a year later, they were married. The couple lived in Louisiana for seven years, where their children, Anthony Jr. and Aja, were born, before relocating to Mississippi in the mid-1980s.
In Jackson, both Tony and Angela worked for the State of Mississippi. Angela worked in community and economic development. Tony worked in juvenile justice, eventually serving for 17 years as the state’s juvenile justice specialist.
Tony’s path into that work made sense for the person he was. A psychology major in college, he had also worked for a community action agency early in his career. Angela said those experiences exposed him to people from disadvantaged communities and to young people trying to navigate difficult circumstances.
“He was always really good with children and with older people,” Angela said. “So when he came to Mississippi and took over the position as the juvenile justice specialist, I think his passion just for working with youth and troubled youth grew even more.”
At home, she said, he was just as devoted.
“He was just a good guy,” Angela said. “Very selfless. He always wanted to help other people.”
She knows that description can sound simple, even cliché, but in Tony’s case, she said, it fits.
“He never wanted to be in the spotlight,” she said. “He liked doing his work, just kind of being low key.”
Tony died suddenly of a heart attack in 2004 at age 53, after more than 24 years of marriage. In the months that followed, Angela and her children began to understand just how far his influence reached.
After his death, the family learned more about his work not only in Mississippi but nationally. They discovered how respected he was by peers and colleagues in juvenile justice and how involved he had been in advisory boards and policy work. Angela, Anthony Jr. and Aja were even flown to Los Angeles, where Tony was honored by colleagues on the national level.
“It wasn’t until after he had passed away that we began to learn just how impactful he was in his work around juvenile justice,” Angela said.
A Scholarship Fund Built to Last
In the midst of that grief, the family knew they wanted to honor both Tony’s memory and his life’s work.
“Since he was so passionate about his work, we felt like an educational scholarship for young people who were interested in going into some type of justice field would be the best way to honor Tony,” Angela said.
That decision led to the creation of the Anthony “Tony” Gobar Juvenile Justice Scholarship Fund at the Community Foundation for Mississippi. The endowed scholarship supports students attending Mississippi’s public universities as well as Southern University in Baton Rouge, Tony’s alma mater.
Angela said the family chose to establish the scholarship with the Community Foundation because they wanted it to last.
“We wanted it to be a scholarship that would be an endowed type of scholarship that would go on and on and on,” she said. “That’s why we chose the foundation, because we knew the scholarship would be in good hands.”
In 2005, family and friends got to work raising the $25,000 needed to endow the fund. By 2006, the first scholarship was awarded. This year marks 20 years of scholarship support through the fund. Each year, scholarship recipients are recognized during the awards luncheon at the Mississippi Juvenile Justice Symposium, an annual gathering focused on issues affecting youth and the juvenile justice system in Mississippi.
Angela is quick to say the family did not do it alone. Friends, family members, church members, colleagues and classmates all helped get the scholarship started. Contributors included Tony’s and Angela’s friends and coworkers, members of Holy Family Catholic Church, friends of Anthony Jr. and Aja from Tougaloo College, and extended family in Louisiana and Texas.
A number of people have also helped steward the scholarship over the years. Tony’s brother, Henry Gobar, has served on the selection committee from the beginning, along with Dr. Alfred Martin and Kenny Wheatley. Others, including Lasine Hilliard and Dr. Aja Gobar, have also helped support the scholarship effort. Two decades later, some of the original committee members are still helping select recipients each year.
“I would just want to acknowledge that those people really did help us as well and have continued to be a part of this worthwhile scholarship effort,” Angela said.
Over the years, she has also received thank-you letters from scholarship recipients. Those notes, she said, have been especially meaningful reminders of what the fund continues to make possible.
The Next Generation Giving Forward
For Anthony Gobar Jr., the scholarship is both a public legacy and a personal one.
He was just six days away from his 19th birthday when his father died. Now, as he prepares to turn 41, he says the lessons his father taught him still shape the way he lives.
“He was probably the quintessential man,” Anthony Jr. said. “The way that he lived his life, it showed me how I should live my life.”
Today, Anthony Jr. is beginning to take on the day-to-day responsibilities of the scholarship from his mother, with Aja close by to help. He sees that transition as both an honor and a responsibility.
“I’m in a position to essentially continue his legacy,” he said.
Even though he did not go into juvenile justice himself, Anthony Jr. said he still sees his father’s influence in the way he tries to guide younger people around him.
“There will be no spotlight or anything for the things that I try to instill in them,” he said. “I consider that a portion of continuing his legacy.”
Whether those interactions are with teenagers or young adults in their 20s, he said he tries to help keep them on the right path using both his own life experience and the foundation his father gave him.
At the Community Foundation for Mississippi, the Anthony “Tony” Gobar Juvenile Justice Scholarship Fund is more than a scholarship. It is a lasting tribute to a man who quietly changed lives and to a family determined to make sure his example continues shaping the future for generations of young people.
“We wanted it to be a scholarship that would be an endowed type of scholarship that would go on and on and on. That’s why we chose the foundation, because we knew the scholarship would be in good hands.”
