Ed Knight (Hillyer ’56) graduated from high school in Michigan and preempted the military draft in 1951 by enlisting in the United States Navy. Ed served as a seaman aboard submarines out of New London, “earning his dolphins” and “washing a lot of dishes.”

When his enlistment ended about 1953, Ed joined his parents who had moved to West Hartford and, with help from the GI Bill, he enrolled in nearby Hillyer College. At the time, the college was located at the former Chauncey Harris Middle School in Hartford and signs of the building’s original purpose were often embarrassingly evident. Ed remembers the small steps, the low drinking fountains, the undersized basketball court located on the third floor, and even the alphabet stenciling on some of the classroom walls.

Just down the street was the Paradise Bar & Grill, a familiar memory for many others who, like Ed, found it a relaxing place to catch up on homework—or avoid it—when not working a second shift at one of the many local industries.

In addition to taking a full course load at Hillyer, Ed worked from 3:30 pm to midnight in material development at the Pratt & Whitney lab in East Hartford. His work, testing metals, electroplating, and conducting stress tests on turbine blades, had no real correlation to his course work in business management at Hillyer, but it enabled him to earn his Bachelor of Science in 1956. Ed remembers being present at an assembly held on the third floor of the Hudson Street building when Alfred Fuller announced the purchase of the farmland upon which the University’s campus now resides.(Hillyer College, the Hartford Art School and The Hartt College of Music merged in 1957 to form the University of Hartford.)

During the summer after graduation, Ed met Dorothy, the woman to whom he would be married for 40 years. Ed and Dorothy moved out of his parents’ home and bought a house in Windsor Locks, Conn. He got a job at the Hartford Machine Screw Company, which later became Stanadyne, “job-hopped” for a few years, and then joined the Farm Credit Banks of Springfield.

A co-op that had been created during the Great Depression, Farm Credit Banks helped local farmers stay on their farms by raising money on the bond market to provide loans. As the computer age expanded during the late 1970s and early 1980s, Ed’s role evolved into that of a computer analyst. Writing in the prototype computer languages, Fortran and Cobol, Ed designed programs that helped farmers analyze their milk production and feeding requirements. In1987 Ed was 58 years old, an age then considered far beyond the “burn out” age of 35, and he was offered an early retirement package.

For 10 years Ed volunteered in a number of fulfilling capacities -- as a tour guide for schoolchildren at the State Capitol in Hartford, as a docent at Storrowton Village, a living history museum in West Springfield, Mass., and as a tourist information agent at Bradley International Airport.

After Dorothy’s death in 1997, Ed moved to Arizona. He had no children and wanted to be near his three surviving brothers, all living in the Phoenix area. Another tragedy struck when Ed’s niece, her physician husband, and their two small children were killed by a drunk driver in Seattle, Wash. Ed’s brother set up a charitable remainder trust (CRT) at Seattle Pacific University in their memory, and Ed made a similar gift of his own.

A CRT allows an individual to contribute assets to a trust and then receive income payments for a lifetime or term of years. The donor receives a charitable income tax deduction, avoids capital gains on appreciated assets, and removes the contributed assets from the taxable estate. Typically, when the trust ends, the remaining principal is distributed to the designated charitable organization.

Having made this kind of gift to his niece’s college, Ed wanted to make a similar arrangement for his own alma mater. Using a substantial amount of highly appreciated mutual fund assets, Ed established a CRT for the benefit of the University of Hartford.

Happily remarried now to Barb, whom he met through their retirement community, Ed enjoys a steady stream of income from sources that have been completely removed from his estate. Ed is pleased to keep these assets “out of the hands of the taxman, the lawyers, and the nursing home,” and he is especially glad to be leaving something behind in his own name, entrusting the University to spend the proceeds when and where they are needed the most, after he has left us.

You may also want to explore the possibility of making a similar gift. Our plan a gift link tells you how to plan a gift with different types of potential gift assets.

Please follow the link to return to the Planned Giving homepage or read more stories from, and about, members of the Founders' Planned Giving Society.

For more information on Planned Giving, contact Peter Congleton at 860.768.2415 or congleton@hartford.edu


Please note that the University of Hartford does not provide tax or legal advice. Gift calculations may be provided for illustrative purposes only, and the actual values may vary based on the timing and nature of your gift. Advice from legal and tax counsel should be sought when considering a charitable gift of any kind.