in 1987 as Black Monday coincided with the company's $377 million loss on mortgage-backed securities in 1987. Bill Schreyer responded to these financial hardships with a cost-restructuring effort that he called "Merristroika", a portmanteau of "Merrill" and "perestroika". First, he sold the sprawling real estate services division, which was located entirely in the United States; Schreyer considered international securities, with large presences in London and Tokyo, as well as in New York and around the United States, to be the future of Merrill Lynch. Indeed, Schreyer's restructuring set the foundation for Merrill's admission to the Tokyo Stock Exchange, one of the first foreign firms to do so. Furthermore, it became the first American investment bank to open a representative office in China. Philanthropy In 1997, he and his wife Joan (née Legg) endowed the Schreyer Honors College at Pennsylvania State University (whence he graduated, class of 1948) with a gift of $30 million. The honors college was created in 1980 as the University Scholars Program. On November 17, 2006, the Schreyers pledged an additional gift of $25 million to the Schreyer Honors College. Having contributed more than $58 million to Penn State, they are the largest family donors in the school's history. In March 2007, Schreyer and his wife gifted $5 million toward Princeton HealthCare System's proposed Plainsboro Hospital to fund a state-of-the-art community and professional education center. In August 2007, Schreyer donated $5 million to the education foundation of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, of which he is an alumnus. William A. Schreyer died on the morning of January 22, 2011, after battling an undisclosed illness for some time. He is survived by his wife, his daughter DrueAnne Schreyer, his son-in-law Rodney Frazier, and two grandchildren. Publications Schreyer published a memoir in 2009, in which he said he continued to be an optimist, despite what had happened: References Smeal College of Business alumni 1928 births 2011 deaths Merrill (company) people People from Williamsport, Pennsylvania