Cicero A. Rust III, a resident of Blanco, has given a gift of $25,000 to the Texas State University Development Foundation to establish a permanent endowment entitled Señor Cicero Alexander Rust III Endowment in Latin Music Studies.

Distributions from the endowment will be used to award scholarships to undergraduate students who are members of the Mariachi ensemble at Texas State.

“Mariachis serenaded Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson in 1960 at a political rally at Blanco State Park; my love of Mariachi music was solidified that evening,” Rust said. “My heart is blessed by the preservation of the Mariachi tradition at Texas State.”

The endowment is also given in honor of former members of the Rio Pedernales Chapter of La Sociedad Honoraria Hispanica at LBJ High School in Johnson City, the English Club members at Floresville High School in Floresville and his former fifth grade Sunday school students at the First Baptist Church in Blanco.

Rust is an alumnus of Texas State, having earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Spanish in 1972, followed by his Master of Arts in Spanish in 1973.

“Texas State University equipped me to relish a perfectly blessed teaching career instructing Spanish and English,” Rust said.

About Texas State University: Founded in 1899, Texas State University is among the largest universities in Texas with an enrollment of 38,694 students on campuses in San Marcos and Round Rock. Texas State’s 192,000-plus alumni are a powerful force in serving the economic workforce needs of Texas and throughout the world.