By Danna Lorch
noteworthy
The sounds of construction buzz in the background as Faries (above left) and Taj (above right) McCree sit shoulder-to-shoulder at an outdoor table in Arlington, Virginia. They are wearing T-shirts emblazoned with giant lobster claws, an insignia for the Mason’s Famous Lobster Rolls franchise they are opening there.
“I’ve always wanted to start a business of some kind,” says Taj, JD ’01. “I spent years researching different opportunities.” He and Faries, MEd ’97, settled on the Annapolis, Maryland–based lobster company as one that would be a hit with local diners (and require minimal cooking, since the lobster arrives freshly prepared).
They were all ready to go in February 2020. “Then COVID-19 hit and the whole market went down,” Taj says. Even as restaurants closed en masse, they stuck with their vision, signing a lease in the fall of 2021 and spending the last year building out the space in time to open this fall. “We’re starting a new chapter and bringing jobs into the community,” says Faries.
Working hard to build community and make an impact has been a lifetime pursuit for the McCrees. After they both earned graduate degrees from Suffolk, Taj served a number of years in the Army National Guard while practicing law at the state level before becoming an attorney for the US government; Faries is now a guidance counselor at a public school in Virginia, helping teenagers chart their next moves.
Several years ago, at the point in life when other successful mid-career professionals might think about investing in a second home or upgrading their vehicles, they instead thought of Suffolk University.
“We were stationed overseas, and a lot of our expenses were paid for, so we had extra cash,” Taj remembers. “When I started thinking about what we could do to help give back, Suffolk was right at the top of the list.” Because Suffolk had helped launch their careers, they say paying it forward and giving other students that same chance felt like the right thing to do.
For Faries, giving back is personal. A native Bostonian, she worked full time while earning a master’s in education from Suffolk—something the school’s central location and easy commute along MBTA subway lines made possible. “Suffolk was a natural fit for me because of the class times offered. It allowed me to keep my day job and do school in the evenings,” she says.
She met Taj, a military veteran, through a postgraduate job at the local YMCA, and it was her advice that led him to get his law degree from Suffolk. Originally from Rochester, New York, Taj came from a family that valued service and philanthropy—his grandfather was vice president of Philander Smith College, a historically black college in Little Rock, Arkansas, and his parents were both teachers—so with law degree in hand, he decided against taking a job at a high-powered law firm and returned to military and government service.
Taj says, “Law school was expensive, and I paid my full tuition. Offering a scholarship to people who don’t have those resources or foundations means a lot to us.”
The McCrees worked closely with the University’s Office of Advancement to plan an annual gift toward the scholarship fund. “Suffolk made it easy for us to start the scholarship because we could build it over the course of six years,” Faries explains. For the total endowment of $50,000, they started with $10,000, adding $8,000 a year for five years. “You start small, and add a little bit every year,” says Taj.
The endowed scholarship, which will be awarded this coming academic year, benefits two underrepresented students who have demonstrated financial need—a law school student and a College of Arts & Sciences student minoring in education studies.
When he isn’t litigating, helping raise their musically inclined son, Caleb, or living the startup life, Taj writes plays at night, most notably a riff on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol set during the Harlem Renaissance.
For grads considering philanthropy themselves, Faries suggests they consider how they have benefited from Suffolk. “For those who might be on the fence, think about how the University impacted your life,” she says. “Then ask yourself, would you be willing to have that positive impact on someone else’s life?”
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Photograph by Kelvin Bulluck
| Fall 2022
The sounds of construction buzz in the background as Faries and Taj McCree sit shoulder-to-shoulder at an outdoor table in Arlington, Virginia. They are wearing T-shirts emblazoned with giant lobster claws, an insignia for the Mason’s Famous Lobster Rolls franchise they are opening there.
“I’ve always wanted to start a business of some kind,” says Taj, JD ’01. “I spent years researching different opportunities.” He and Faries, MEd ’97, settled on the Annapolis, Maryland–based lobster company as one that would be a hit with local diners (and require minimal cooking, since the lobster arrives freshly prepared).
They were all ready to go in February 2020. “Then COVID-19 hit and the whole market went down,” Taj says. Even as restaurants closed en masse, they stuck with their vision, signing a lease in the fall of 2021 and spending the last year building out the space in time to open this fall. “We’re starting a new chapter and bringing jobs into the community,” says Faries.
Working hard to build community and make an impact has been a lifetime pursuit for the McCrees. After they both earned graduate degrees from Suffolk, Taj served a number of years in the Army National Guard while practicing law at the state level, before becoming an attorney for the US government; Faries is now a guidance counselor at a public school in Virginia, helping teenagers chart their next moves.
Several years ago, at the point in life when other successful mid-career professionals might think about investing in a second home or upgrading their vehicles, they instead thought of Suffolk University.
“We were stationed overseas, and a lot of our expenses were paid for, so we had extra cash,” Taj remembers. “When I started thinking about what we could do to help give back, Suffolk was right at the top of the list.” Because Suffolk had helped launch their careers, they say paying it forward and giving other students that same chance felt like the right thing to do.
For Faries, giving back is personal. A native Bostonian, she worked full time while earning a master’s in education from Suffolk; something the school’s central location and easy commute along MBTA subway lines made possible. “Suffolk was a natural fit for me because of the class times offered. It allowed me to keep my day job and do school in the evenings,” she says.
She met Taj, a military veteran, through a postgraduate job at the local YMCA, and it was her advice that led him to get his law degree from Suffolk. Originally from Rochester, New York, Taj came from a family that valued service and philanthropy—his grandfather was vice president of Philander Smith College, a historically black college in Little Rock, Arkansas, and his parents were both teachers—so with law degree in hand, he decided against taking a job at a high-powered law firm and returned to military and government service.
Taj says, “Law school was expensive, and I paid my full tuition. Offering a scholarship to people who don’t have those resources or foundations means a lot to us.”
The McCrees worked closely with the University’s Office of Advancement to plan an annual gift toward the scholarship fund. “Suffolk made it easy for us to start the scholarship because we could build it over the course of six years,” Faries explains. For the total endowment of $50,000, they started with $10,000, adding $8,000 a year for five years. “You start small, and says a little bit every year,” adds Taj.
The endowed scholarship, which will be awarded this coming academic year, benefits two underrepresented students who have demonstrated financial need—a law school student and a College of Arts & Sciences student minoring in education studies.
When he isn’t litigating, helping raise their musically inclined son, Caleb, or living the startup life, Taj writes plays at night, most notably a riff on Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol set during the Harlem Renaissance.
For grads considering philanthropy themselves, Faries suggests they consider how they have benefited from Suffolk. “For those who might be on the fence, think about how the University impacted your life,” she says. “Then ask yourself, would you be willing to have that positive impact on someone else’s life?”
“We were stationed overseas, and a lot of our expenses were paid for, so we had extra cash,” Taj remembers. “When I started thinking about what we could do to help give back, Suffolk was right at the top of the list.” Because Suffolk had helped launch their careers, they say paying it forward and giving other students that same chance felt like the right thing to do.
For Faries, giving back is personal. A native Bostonian, she worked full time while earning a master’s in education from Suffolk; something the school’s central location and easy commute along MBTA subway lines made possible. “Suffolk was a natural fit for me because of the class times offered. It allowed me to keep my day job and do school in the evenings,” she says.
She met Taj, a military veteran, through a postgraduate job at the local YMCA, and it was her advice that led him to get his law degree from Suffolk. Originally from Rochester, New York, Taj came from a family that valued service and philanthropy—his grandfather was vice president of Philander Smith College, a historically black college in Little Rock, Arkansas, and his parents were both teachers—so with law degree in hand, he decided against taking a job at a high-powered law firm and returned to military and government service.
Taj says, “Law school was expensive, and I paid my full tuition. Offering a scholarship to people who don’t have those resources or foundations means a lot to us.”
The McCrees worked closely with the University’s Office of Advancement to plan an annual gift toward the scholarship fund. “Suffolk made it easy for us to start the scholarship because we could build it over the course of six years,” Faries explains. For the total endowment of $50,000, they started with $10,000, adding $8,000 a year for five years. “You start small, and says a little bit every year,” adds Taj.
The endowed scholarship, which will be awarded this coming academic year, benefits two underrepresented students who have demonstrated financial need—a law school student and a College of Arts & Sciences student minoring in education studies.
When he isn’t litigating, helping raise their musically inclined son, Caleb, or living the startup life, Taj writes plays at night, most notably a riff on Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol set during the Harlem Renaissance.
For grads considering philanthropy themselves, Faries suggests they consider how they have benefited from Suffolk. “For those who might be on the fence, think about how the University impacted your life,” she says. “Then ask yourself, would you be willing to have that positive impact on someone else’s life?”
“Suffolk made it easy for us to start the scholarship because we could build it over the course of six years,” says Faries McCree (bottom photo, with husband Taj, above).