Scholarship fund grows after Oprah

The magic wand of media maven Oprah Winfrey has worked its spell on the Lori Hacking scholarship fund — some $60,000 in online contributions have poured into the fund since Tuesday when Lori's mother appeared on Winfrey's show asking viewers to help honor her daughter's memory with a contribution.

The response to Thelma Soares' plea — along with a $50,000 gift from Winfrey — has brought the scholarship fund bank balance up to $130,000, said Jack Brittain, dean of the U.'s David Eccles School of Business.

The amount is well beyond what University of Utah officials needed to secure the scholarship in perpetuity. Soares established the fund in August with money originally donated to assist Lori's family with a search when the 27-year-old woman was reported missing in July.

"Oh my gosh, I am so grateful," Soares said Friday night after learning about the fund balance. "I'm so happy to know. That might make it so that someone can get the scholarship each year."

Soares was returning home Friday from a media tour, which in addition to the Winfrey show included appearances on the network television morning shows and CNN's Larry King Live.

"People are so good," she said, adding that her hopes for the scholarship were being fulfilled. "That's just exactly why I did this. It has helped me cope."

"We're on our way with this," said Brittain, who attended the taping of Winfrey's show in Chicago. "We have fully endowed one scholarship. It is a wonderful memorial to Lori. It is really the right thing, given the person she was and her own educational achievements."

Lori Hacking was a cum laude graduate of the Eccles school. The scholarship will benefit a junior-year business student, with preference given to women seeking an education in the face of significant life challenges.

Salt Lake police believe Lori Hacking was shot and killed by her husband of five years, Mark Hacking, as she slept in the early hours of July 19.

Mark Hacking is in the Salt Lake County Jail, awaiting a Sept. 23 preliminary hearing in 3rd District Court. Prosecutors have charged him with one first-degree felony murder charge and three second-degree felony obstruction of justice charges in connection with his wife's death. He allegedly confessed to his brothers that he killed Lori, who was five weeks pregnant, and left her body in a Dumpster.

Police believe Lori's body is in a west Salt Lake landfill and on Friday completed the first week of picking by hand through some 4,600 tons of garbage. The search is the second phase of the effort to recovery Lori's body. A 24-day search with cadaver dogs was unsuccessful.