Personal Donor Stories

We thank all our planned-gift donors for their generous support. Here are some of their stories.

Alum's Planned Gift Benefits CANR Students

Clinton Charter ’61 (CANR) has seen Connecticut’s agriculture industry from the perspective of his family’s second-generation dairy farm in Ellington, Conn., as well as from 40 years of working both with the Connecticut Extension Systems and in the business of farm lending and management.

Now he is helping tomorrow’s agriculture students with a significant planned gift to support the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

“Throughout my life, I’ve valued the education and the experience that I had at UConn,” he says. “I can see that my management and agricultural economics courses helped me throughout my career. Now, through this gift, I’m able to give something back.”

Charter, 67, is recently retired but still works part-time as a realtor in South Windsor. The gift will come from a 401(k) account that he grew during his years working in the credit business.

“Giving to UConn through a beneficiary designation in a retirement plan such as a 401(k), 403(b) or IRA is an ideal way to benefit future generations of students,” says Hal Reed, assistant vice president for planned giving at the UConn Foundation. “If such plans are left to heirs or other loved ones, these individuals will be required to pay income taxes on any distributions from such an inherited plan. Federal and state estate taxes may apply as well, bringing the tax bite in some cases up to 80% or more. By designating a charitable organization such as the UConn Foundation as a beneficiary or partial beneficiary, taxes are avoided.”

Reed also points out that a law enacted last year allows tax-free gifts to be transferred during life directly from IRAs to organizations such as the UConn Foundation. This law, in effect only for 2007, allows for charitable IRA transfers up to $100,000 by donors aged 70 1/2 and over.

Clinton Charter says he appreciates the fact that his gift helps both UConn and his own financial situation. “The gift offers an estate planning benefit to me,” he says. “And I would hope that it makes it possible for students who need assistance to get an education. I want to help foster a system that helps students who need it.”

$2-Million Faculty Gift Supports Psychology Students

Maurice L. Farber, professor emeritus of psychology, is giving $2 million to support scholarships and graduate fellowships in his former department.

Farber, who retired in 1977 after 29 years at UConn, has established a trust to benefit undergraduates who demonstrate financial need, as well as graduate students. Farber is described by those close to him as a gentle, cultivated man, an avid reader and a good listener. He wanted to help today’s students, particularly in light of the growing costs of a college education, says a family friend.

When Farber started teaching at UConn in 1948, the Department of Psychology had tripled in size from the 1930s, from three to about 10 faculty members. Many of its students were veterans attending UConn on the GI bill. Into this scene came an urbane young Maurice Farber.A native of New Jersey, he had studied at New York University and City College and had left medical school in Switzerland to become a clinical psychologist. During World War II, he served in intelligence and psychological warfare units of the U.S.Army in Europe.

He arrived in Storrs a sophisticated world traveler. Unlike other faculty members who bought homes close to campus, Farber found an old house outside of Stafford Springs surrounded by acres of land. Farber was a social and clinical psychologist and “an ideal mentor for students in both areas,” says Charles Lowe, professor and department head, who joined the faculty five years before Farber retired.

“I learned so much just by talking with Maury Farber,” he says.“He significantly influenced my development as a researcher and teacher.” Farber himself was mentored by social psychology pioneer Kurt Lewin at the University of Iowa. He wrote a well-received book, Theory of Suicide (1968), and he was also interested in the social psychology of political groups. He wrote many articles from a psychoanalytical viewpoint about national character and political behavior.

Jerome Smith, who was the department head when Farber retired, had worked with Farber as a graduate student in the 1950s and later as a member of the faculty. He summed up Farber’s achievements at a retirement reception in 1977.

“He has taught well, extended our knowledge, and been a warm friend and delight to his colleagues,” Smith recalled.

Hal C. Reed, JD, CFRE
Assistant Vice President for Planned Giving
The University of Connecticut Foundation, Inc.
Storrs, CT 06269-3206
Telephone: 860.486.6135
Toll-free: 800.269.9965, Extension 6135
Facsimile: 860.486.1615
E-Mail: hreed@foundation.uconn.edu