Personal Donor Stories

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

Stephen Feehan & Kathryn Madigan
Binghamton University Foundation Board Members

Stephen Feehan '90 MBA and Kathryn Madigan have both experienced Binghamton University from a variety of perspectives. Both have offered their time and expertise to the University as volunteers, including the Binghamton University Foundation board of directors. Members of the Esther W. Couper Heritage Society, both have contributed generously to the University and have made provisions in their respective retirement plans to benefit Binghamton.

Paul Bertan: "One of the Best Things I've Ever Done"

Chances are, you will never find anyone more supportive of public higher education than Paul B. Bertan MS '74, PhD '94.

"I think it's very, very important to fund scholarships because I went to school tuition free back in 1953 through 1957," said Bertan, who is now an adjunct professor after retiring a few years ago. He has established several charitable gift annuities at Binghamton that will eventually fund scholarships. "Maybe it's one of the best things I've ever done."

Sandra Michael PhD
Distinguished Service Professor, Biological Sciences

After more than 30 years of teaching at Binghamton University, Sandra D. Michael decided to include a provision in her will designating that 50 percent of her estate be bequeathed to the University. Her planned gift will establish a dissertation-year fellowship for doctoral students in biological sciences to enable them to concentrate fully on their studies. "By and large, graduate students are paid to be teaching assistants. Being a TA is a lot of work. Even though it's extremely valuable to the student to teach, and good for the department, it does detract from the time needed to complete a dissertation," says Sandra.

Stanley Cohn PhD
Professor Emeritus

At Binghamton, Cohn developed "an affection for his career as a teacher," said Clifford Kern, professor and chairman of the University's economics department and one of Cohn's colleagues. "He wanted to enhance the undergraduate experience for students."

With this in mind, Cohn specified that his bequest be used to provide "scholarships and other support of economics majors," leaving it up to the economics department to develop "something in the spirit of the bequest's intentions." After consideration, it was decided the endowment's earnings would fund undergraduate economic research.

Leona Hine
Friend

It has been said that service to others is a form of rent paid for life's blessings. If so, Leona Hine's account should be stamped "paid in full."

That's because Hine gave of herself in so many ways. She volunteered at Binghamton's Ross Park Zoo. She was the first female Red Cross instructor in the United States. Although she never had children of her own, she became a surrogate grandmother to scores of children in her neighborhood. Denied a college education, Hine became a strong supporter of higher education, and her generosity will now help students at Binghamton University in perpetuity. Hine, who died in 2004 at age 85, bequeathed 45 percent of her estate - which was worth nearly $750,000 - to the scholarship fund she established in 1999. The fund supports scholarships to benefit full-time incoming freshmen or full-time upper-class students with high academic achievement and no, or limited, opportunities for federal or state financial aid.

-Read More

Gertrude Stein

The late Gertrude Stein bequeathed a charitable trust that will endow scholarships for Broome County students in financial need. Stein and her husband, the late English and literature professor William Stein, had befriended and mentored many talented graduate students during their time in Binghamton. "They were generous to a fault," said Ted Billy '74, '77, a professor at Saint Mary's College in Indiana who met the Steins while working on his dissertation at BU. "She understood the value of education," said Gertrude's niece, Marion Giaimo of Virginia.

Aldo Bernardo, Professor Emeritus, and Reta Bernardo MA ’72, MA ’74 and PhD ’79

"It's an investment in something we helped to build, and it gives us something back in turn," said Aldo Bernardo, a distinguished service professor emeritus of Italian and comparative literature, and chair of the Humanities Department at Harpur College from 1959 to 1967. Bernardo and his wife, Reta Bernardo, dedicate their gift annuity to the Aldo Bernardo Fund, an endowment for BU's Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, which he founded "It allows you to give assets while increasing your income," added Reta Bernardo, who obtained her doctoral degree in French at Harpur.

Anthony Pellegrini PhD
Professor Emeritus

Since retirement 13 years ago, Anthony Pellegrini has been repaying his "lover's debt" to academia with many annual contributions to his alma mater and gift annuities to Harpur to fund endowments in support of various forms of student aid. His charitable giving to Harpur began during his tenure as president of the retirees club when he persuaded the members to sponsor a scholarship in honor of legendary S. Stuart Gordon, the first dean of the college, who was instrumental in fostering the high standards that quickly brought national recognition of Harpur as a first-rate liberal arts college.

Ben Surovy MS ’72
Retired Professional Staff

Benjamin Surovy MS '72 rolled funds from his IRA into the Benjamin Russell Surovy University Libraries Endowment, building on prior gifts, and has included the University in his estate plan. With no wife or children, Surovy decided to support both of his alma maters (he earned his bachelor's degree at Cornell University before entering the Air Force.) "I chose to support acquisitions for the libraries because the library became important to me while at Binghamton," he said. "I did a lot of studying and research in the library and still use libraries to find general information."

The Binghamton University Foundation
Office of Gift Planning
P.O. Box 6005
Binghamton, NY 13902-6005
607-777-4712 | Fax: 607-777-2945