Griffith Creates Lasting Legacy with Current and Planned Giving

Jane Griffith ’43 has a legacy of supporting the education of Bucknellians.

Having recently celebrated her 102nd birthday, Jane Griffith ’43 can reflect on how many lives she made richer thanks to her philanthropy.

After obtaining her Bucknell degree in English, Griffith’s love of language led to a journalism career at Time magazine. Upon her retirement, she turned her focus toward helping others, which led her to endow three scholarships and a faculty fellowship at Bucknell. Each fund is named to honor the memory of her family — her parents, and a niece and a nephew, both Bucknell grads.

Including planned gifts in her giving strategy allowed Griffith to leverage her outright giving and become a member of Bucknell’s legacy society, the Ellen Clarke Bertrand Society. Charitable gift annuities and charitable trusts, also referred to as life-income gifts, became an important part of her philanthropic efforts. Life-income gifts provide a lifetime income to Griffith, and the remainder of the gifts will ultimately benefit her Bucknell endowments.

Griffith, along with over 700 Bertrand Society members, continues to secure the University’s financial future.

“It means a lot to be able to make this difference for students,” she says. It means a lot to Bucknell and its students too. We are grateful to have Griffith as a Bertrand Society member and for her Bucknell legacy.