“After serving in the Navy, I went to Dartmouth and the London School of Economics, both on the G.I. Bill. I did well in business, thanks to those opportunities.
In 1985, my wife Patricia and I started a donor-advised fund at The Trust for our annual giving. We were married for 61 years, and I learned more from her than anyone else. She didn’t care about seeing her name on plaques. Instead, she wanted our money to create fellowships to let people develop expertise, then give back.
The Robert A. and Patricia S. Levinson Award Fund supports five fellowships in perpetuity: One trains health care workers to help vulnerable populations; a second creates a pipeline to train underrepresented minorities to become doctors and serve their communities; a third helps emerging artists; a fourth helps chronically ill children leave hospitals for home; a fifth helps Americans explore a country for two years and return to educate the public.
I’m 92, with three grown children and five grandchildren—and I’m still paying back our country for the G.I. Bill.”
Bob Levinson is a past chairman of the Brooklyn Museum, Harlem School of the Arts and the National Dance Institute.
Learn more about giving through The New York Community Trust.