Massachusetts Vending Association renames scholarship fund to honor Allan Z. Gilbert
Source Massachusetts Vending Association
The trustees of The Massachusetts Vending Association Scholarship Fund, a tax exempt, public charity, proudly announced it has renamed the fund to The Allan Z. Gilbert Memorial Scholarship Fund to honor the passing of Allan Z. Gilbert, the founder of the fund, its first chairman, a past trustee and its foremost benefactor.
Allan Z. Gilbert passed away in 2022. He started in the vending business by placing penny gumball machines while a student at Boston University. These gumball machines led to the start of the successful New England Vending Corporation. He then went on to create DISC, an acronym for Data Intelligence Software Corporation. DISC was one of the first vending-specific software platforms. From there, he started Lemon Tree Systems, a mini manual food system. And finally, his last company was Merrimac Financial, a company that loaned money to vending operators to buy vending machines. He was a true entrepreneur.
The newly named Allan Z. Gilbert Scholarship Fund was started in 1988. Since then, it has awarded a total of $718,950 to the children of the employees of Massachusetts Vending Association member companies. It is supported by voluntary contributions from the member companies and the investment income from its funded endowment.