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QUT's oldest philanthropist has celebrated her 102nd birthday by meeting two university students who are benefiting from her generosity.

Mary and Carl Leonard "adopted" QUT's students three years ago when they pledged almost $1 million to set up the Mary and Carl Leonard International Relations Award to enable students to travel overseas to volunteer and study.

Carl passed away two years ago, aged 86, but this month Mary celebrated her 102nd birthday at her Brisbane nursing home.

To mark the occasion, she had a special morning tea at Yeronga with the two 2013 recipients of the $10,000 scholarships which bear her name - media PhD student Steve Fox and psychology student Kathryn Leckenby.

Steve will use his scholarship to go to the Republic of Korea to research notions of democracy on the web and how online news models may address inequality in developing and developed countries.

Kathryn's scholarship will enable the mother-of-six to travel to Ethiopia (where two of her children are adopted from) to help implement a program for special needs children and their parents.

Mrs Leonard smiled broadly when she heard about the students' plans and was humble about being the centre of attention at the morning tea.

"I'm just an ordinary person," she said.

But her extraordinary story stretches well beyond the past decade of retirement in Brisbane (chosen because the couple liked the weather here) and is anchored by a fascination of different cultures and a love of education.

Mrs Leonard spent most of her married life travelling the world with Carl, teaching English in local communities while he worked on civil engineering projects.

The couple, who never owned a house, lived a gypsy life aboard a yacht for a large part of the 20th century, as they worked and travelled through more than 50 countries, mainly in the developing world.

Originally from the USA, they met while Mary was teaching in Bangkok in the late 1950s, and went on to marry in Switzerland in 1959.

After retiring to Brisbane, the Leonards donated $275,000 to QUT - and pledged to bequeath a significant portion of their estate to the university in their wills. They had no connection to QUT, apart from years looking out the window of their Alice Street apartment in the CBD and watching students walk to uni.

"All of our friends come talk about their grandchildren but we don't have grandchildren - now we have the QUT children," Mrs Leonard said, at the time of the gift. "I think learning would be the theme of our life and we just want to help these young people learn."

QUT's bequests and major gifts coordinator Anna Herbert said she was meeting more and more people who wanted to set up scholarship funds during their lifetime, as well as making a gift through their will.

"It allows them to tailor something very special, which is connected to their family name - sometimes for many generations into the future," she said.

"The impressive award that Mary and Carl Leonard established is a beautiful example of how universities can allow people to create a truly meaningful legacy. The loveliest thing about this award is that they have been able to meet the students who are benefiting from their philanthropy."

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Media contact: Mechelle McMahon, QUT media officer, 07 3138 9449 (Mon & Thurs) or media@qut.edu.au (Mon-Fri)