

A police officer passes a makeshift memorial at the 84th Precinct in Brooklyn. (Michael Graae / Getty Images)

George Steinbrenner, the longtime owner of the New York Yankees, died over four years ago, but, thanks to him, the children of one of the two police officers who were shot to death Saturday in Brooklyn won’t have to worry about financing their education.

The Silver Shield Foundation will pay for the education of the 13-year-old son and a college-age son of Rafael Ramos, who was gunned down along with his partner, Wenjian Liu. Liu, who only recently was married, has no children.

Steinbrenner’s foundation has, for 32 years, provided for the education of the children of tri-state area police officers, fire fighters, state police and Port Authority employees who died in the line of duty, the New York Daily News reports. Steinbrenner created the foundation in 1982 after seeing a news account of four children flanking their mother and holding an American flag at the funeral of their father, an NYPD officer who had been killed in the line of duty. From the News: