CSUN GIVEN SCHOLARSHIP FUND.

Byline: Robert Monroe Staff Writer

NORTHRIDGE - The widow of a former California State University, Northridge, student and his former business partner have established in his name the largest scholarship fund ever in the School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, the university announced Monday.

The Michael E. Tamburro Geography Scholarship Fund, at $125,000 and growing, will benefit aspiring geography students and honors Tamburro, a 1981 graduate killed four years ago while pursuing one of his passions, flying a helicopter.

``This endowment kind of is tied in with that because I wanted to establish him as the man that he was,'' said Tamara Tamburro, a Woodland Hills resident, who made the first contribution of $25,000 last spring.

Tamburro said the scholarship follows the academic career path her husband pursued. It will be available to community college students seeking to transfer to CSUN's geography program. Michael Tamburro had transferred to CSUN after taking geography courses at Pierce College in Woodland Hills.

``We as a department are very excited by their generosity and the opportunities it's going to provide students,'' said Antoina Hussey, acting chairwoman of the CSUN Geography Department.

The scholarship will benefit the largest geography program in the CSU system. The department has 15 full-time professors, a weather station and one of the largest map libraries in the western United States. In fall 1998, the most recent semester for which data is available, the department had 434 full-time equivalent students, most in the system.

``As far as I know, they're among the very best departments in the Cal State system and maybe beyond,'' said USC geographer Curtis Roseman. ``Certainly they have some very good people.''

Michael Tamburro's former business partner, Alan Purwin, matched her with a $100,000 contribution of his own at the end of 1999. Several other friends of Michael Tamburro have also made donations, said Mishka Michon, director of development and alumni relations at the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences.

``We probably have at least $10,000 more in gifts since the end of the year,'' said Michon.

Michael Tamburro, co-owner of the then-named West Coast Helicopters, died Aug. 20, 1996, when a helicopter he was co-piloting during a television commercial shoot hit a rocky outcropping in the desert outside Lancaster. It spun out of control and crashed.

Tamara Tamburro said her late husband, who also flew executives to meetings and human organs to transplant recipients, would often regale his passengers with facts about the land formations over which they flew.

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Photo: Tamburro