As published in NEWSDAY
By Bart Jones
Updated June 14, 2022 7:23 pm
A mechanical engineer who found success in the coffee industry manufacturing "K-Cups" has donated $2 million to Molloy University, officials said Tuesday.
At a ceremony in Rockville Centre marking Molloy’s official transition from a college to a university, officials announced the gift from S. Zaki Hossain, calling it one of the largest in the institution’s history.
“We are grateful to Mr. Hossain for his generosity — both financially and for his time and talent in helping guide Molloy through its newest days as a university and its future serving the region and the nation,” said Edward Thompson, Molloy’s vice president for advancement.
Hossain, of Huntington, told the crowd that after he emigrated to the United States from Bangladesh, he increasingly felt the importance of applying education to the “real field.”
His gift will help do exactly that, officials said, as Molloy increases programs that train people already working in their fields to keep up with the latest advances. The programs will also help shape undergraduate curricula to help meet the current needs of various industries including the health sector and businesses, said James P. Lentini, Molloy’s president.
As part of that, Lentini also announced new partnerships with Catholic Health Services and Mount Sinai South Nassau to help determine the work needs in the health care industry and how Molloy can help meet them.
For instance, one focus will be on meeting a shortage of nurses, and retaining those already on the job, officials said.
Another example of Molloy’s workforce development program is one in which the school will help Suffolk police officers finish their college degrees while staying on the beat, said C. Michelle Piskulich, provost and vice president for academic affairs.
Hossain, the founder and CEO of Pintail Coffee, got his start in the coffee industry with the development of some of the first manufacturing technology for small coffee cartridges known as "K-Cups," Molloy officials said.
He ended up using proceeds from this technology for charitable work through Pintail. The Farmingdale-based business donates 100% of its profits to hunger-relief organizations, Molloy said.
Hossain previously gave $500,000 to Molloy for scholarships. A Muslim whose wife is chair of the board of the Long Island Muslim Society — a mosque in East Meadow founded by Bangladeshi immigrants — Hossain said his donations to a Catholic university were an example of interfaith cooperation.
“I am a human being first,” he said. “I like to work with humanity. God created all of us. If I can make God’s creation happy, I will be happy.”
Thompson said that Molloy “serves everybody. We are here to serve Long Island. We are being nimble and flexible” with the new workforce program Hossain is helping to fund.
“We have to be responsive to the needs of young people today,” he said. “The world is changing. We have to change with it.”