The American University in Bulgaria is USD 2,5 M richer due to a generous donation by the Bulgarian-American Annie Chaprachikova, who had left in her will, almost her entire estate to the University.

The funds have already been transferred into the University's bank account and would be used to support Bulgarian students' studies in prestigious US Universities giving a chance to talented young Bulgarians to continue their education in establishments such as Harvard, Yale, and Princeton.

The will's executors are Dimi Panitsa - one of the founders of the AUB and member of its Board of Trustees and the already deceased Stephan Gruev, while Andrey Delchev, Vice Chairman of the School's Board of Trustees and well-known attorney is working on the legal aspects of the will.

The stipend would be awarded to AUB graduates with Bachelors' Degrees from the University to continue earning their Masters' and Doctors' degrees in the most prestigious US secondary schools. Students who have completed their Bachelor's Degrees within three years back from the date of the application for the stipend are eligible.

Annie Chaprachikova had made the generous donation guided by the belief that it would be the best investment in Bulgaria's progress. The donor also had wished to set an example and encourage other Bulgarians to invest in the education of the Bulgarian promising youth.

Annie Chaprachikova comes from a well-known Macedonian family with long history. Her father, Krum Chaprachikov has been the founder and the owner of the largest company for tobacco export in the last century's 20's and 30's - "Orient Tabac'. Her mother, Elisaveta Chaprachikova is the daughter of one of the most prominent Bulgarian bankers from the end of the 19th century, Manager of the Bulgarian National Bank and Finance Minister. After September 9, 1944, the new Communist regime confiscated the family's entire property and Annie emigrated from Switzerland to the US. In New York she worked at the French magazine "Paris Match" and later founded a small trade company.

Annie returned to Bulgaria after a long exile in the beginning of the 90's of the last century to lead a complicated legal battle for the restitution of her family property, but along with that, to make great efforts to turn Bulgaria into a contemporary democratic country. For Annie the US, a country she had loved and admired, have always been the democratic model to follow.

Annie Chaprachikova died in 2006 in Paris, at the age of 88.

Her friend Dimi Panitsa says about her: "She was a very beautiful woman, with the biggest blue eyes in the world. She was a rich Bulgarian - with determination and stamina, unlimited courage and an open heart."

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