Scholarship will benefit students enrolled in the Yavapai College Viticulture and Enology program
Yavapai Community College has established a memorial scholarship to honor Neal Baltz. Mr. Baltz was one of the 34 victims who died in the deadly fire on a dive boat off the California coast several days ago. Baltz, lived in Ahwatukee with his girlfriend Patricia Beitzinger, who also died in the fire.
In an interview with Fox10 News Phoenix, Michael Pierce said that “The tragedy is too hard to think about. I’d rather think about Neal and think about him being right here with us and having wet shoes with all of us and enjoying it and doing something goofy. That is what I’d rather be thinking about.”
The College Foundation wrote on its web site that Neal Baltz was “an engineer from Phoenix, loved wine, and loved making it. After years of experimenting at home, fermenting grapes in his bathtub, he enrolled in the Enology program at Yavapai College in Northern Arizona’s Verde Valley wine region. He made the hour-and-a-half drive to Yavapai’s Clarkdale campus from his home in Ahwatukee, working in the vineyards and cellars, and sometimes sleeping overnight in his Ford F-150. Neal graduated from the Viticulture and Enology program in 2017.”
Your contribution to the Neal Baltz Memorial Scholarship will benefit students enrolled in the Yavapai College Viticulture and Enology program. The permanently endowed scholarship fund will honor Neal’s memory in perpetuity at Yavapai College.