The late Tom Petty will be honored with a posthumous honorary Doctor of Music degree from the University of Florida.
The Grammy-award winner and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer's brother, Bruce Petty, will accept the diploma at the school's spring commencement on Thursday, Rolling Stone reported.
"I don't think anyone in our family, including him, thought that he would be linked with the University of Florida this way," Bruce Petty said. "It's such a powerful thing, it was his life-long dream, and I know he would just be over-the-top, crazy happy about it."
Tom Petty died Oct. 2, 2017.
University of Florida School of Music director Kevin Orr said the honor is a celebration not just of Tom Petty's music.
"We in the UF School of Music and College of the Arts are privileged to honor Tom Petty with an honorary doctorate degree in Music, celebrating not only his extraordinary achievements as an artist, but the ways in which his music has and continues to unite us as a community," Orr said.
"Tom Petty's tireless defense of the rights of performing artists, and his compassionate advocacy for the wellbeing of his neighbors in every community where he lived, are embodied by the students and faculty of the UF School of Music: commitment to one's artistic passions, even in the face of challenges; the safeguarding of creative work to ensure unique and lasting impact; and indeed, the power of music to advance causes for the greater good in society."
The university is also partnering with Tom Petty's estate to launch The Tom Petty Endowment for Guitars & Innovation, which according to a statement, will "support the next generation of artists in the School of Music's Guitar and new Music Business & Entrepreneurship programs."
Tom Petty's estate donated $100,000 in his memory to the new endowment.
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