ALUMNI GIVING BACK
Lance Beizer Appointed Head of Town Hill Society
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F Y O U A S K T H E Rev. Canon Lance Beizer ’56 why he chose to become a member of the Town Hill Society, he answers without hesitation. Beizer, who has just been appointed the Town Hill Society Chair, follows the late Frederick Frank ’50 in the post, serving as the School’s chief gift planning representative and advocate. “My wife, Ann, and I started doing an estate plan in 2013,” he says. “That is when I set up the planned gift, a charitable remainder annuity trust. Why do I give? I think back to the experiences I had as a student at Hotchkiss, and I look at what is happening now at Hotchkiss. And I am impressed.” Beizer moved back to Connecticut after 50 years in California and a law career in which he served in the district attorney’s office, first as a prosecutor and then as an advocate for children in abuse cases, before retiring to begin a new career in the ministry. Living in nearby Canaan, CT, he became active as a Hotchkiss volunteer and served for six years on the Hotchkiss Board of Governors (BOG). “I had the opportunity to sit in on some classes and to meet other members of the BOG,” he says. “I was impressed by the alumni I met on the Board. And in the School, I found differences of socialization and cooperation among the students. Hotchkiss was very good intellectually when I was there. Dr. Allan Hoey (Classics instructor from 1941-1972) captured my imagination. We read the Iliad and discussed the issues there. He encouraged
thinking about ethics and morality. “Now there is an emphasis on ethics, but also on working cooperatively. Students have a lot more opportunity to speak in class, as well as in discussions and debate. It was all-male when I was there. As I recall, there were only two Black students at the time, and they didn’t overlap. You went back to your room to study until the lights were turned off. You studied individually. Now there’s just a very different mix of students, and it’s coed. I’d love to be able to go to school there now,” he says. Beizer is among 212 living members of the Town Hill Society, according to Brent Alderman Sterste, director of gift planning. The oldest member is an alumnus of the Class of 1938, and the youngest is a member of the Class of 2012. The total value of known planned gifts is $35.5 million; 149 gifts have an unknown value. On average, realized planned gifts account for five percent of gift revenue for the School each year. To show the powerful effect of planned giving, Alderman Sterste shares the example of the third capital gift made to Hotchkiss. It was a bequest of $20,000 in 1919 from Gerald Hinckley ’10. His bequest is now worth approximately $5 million of today’s endowment. “In the same way today, planned gifts of all types and sizes continue to have a profound, long-term impact on the School,” he noted. “Hotchkiss will remain strong for generations to come, due in large part to the generosity of the Town Hill Society members.” H
“Why do I give? I think back to the experiences I had as a student at Hotchkiss, and I look at what is happening now at Hotchkiss. And I am impressed.” —REV. CANON L ANCE BEIZER ’56
To learn more about the Town Hill Society, go to www.hotchkiss.plannedgiving.org, or contact Brent Alderman Sterste at (860) 435-3263.
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