Why I Give

List of 4 items.

  • Alden Sector

    Alden H. J. Sector (former faculty member)

    Alden H. J. Sector was an active part of the Sewickley Academy community from his arrival in 1955 until his death in 2013. His 33 years of teaching included fifth grade and Middle School history. "Sewickley Academy was the focus of my life for a long time," explains Alden, "I formed lasting friendships with some of my students and with their parents as well."

    After retiring in 1988, Mr. Sector remained a very close friend of the school and established the Sector Speaker Series in honor of his parents. The series invites distinguished speakers to the Academy each spring to address audiences in the Rea Auditorium. He was an avid collector of antiques and looked every part the distinguished and discriminating expert.

    "People give for different reasons, one of which is because they appreciate what the school has done for their kids. I was in the process of writing a new will. I decided that the school had been an integral part of my life since I was 25 years old and this is what I wanted to do."
  • Missy and Sour - Planned Giving

    Missy (Ratcliffe ’60) Zimmerman and Susan (Ratcliffe ’55) Sour

    “Each of us must reflect on the influences that have shaped our lives. In our financial planning, of course we will provide for our families first. And yet we have always been taught that we should ‘give back’ for the many advantages that have been provided for us. A Sewickley Academy education, both in the classroom and beyond, was certainly the best foundation we could have had to move forward in our lives. We want to be sure that others who may not be able to afford such an education will at least get a small hand up from us. That is a really important part of the legacy we choose to leave.”
  • Richard and Audrey Weinzierl

    Richard and Audrey Weinzierl, parents of Jeanne ’78, Linda ’80, Amy ’81, Steve ’82, and Cheryl ’85

    “We are so grateful to the Academy for their assistance during the years our five children went here that we wanted to pay it back and perhaps at the same time pay it forward,” said Dick Weinzierl in a visit to the school. The Weinzierls lived in Emsworth when their local Catholic school closed its doors, forcing a change for grade 7 that was unexpected.

    “As a mother, safety was my first concern,” added Audrey. “The academics were a big draw for me,” said Dick. The financial support the Weinzierl children received helped make SA a possibility that became a life-changing opportunity. The personal interest that Academy teachers took in their children, each one distinctly different from their siblings, and the excellent college guidance they were given made the experiences they had here and the choices they made in college and beyond the basis for successful professional lives.

    The Weinzierls are justly proud of their five children (Jeanne ’78, Linda ’80, Amy ’81, Steven ’82, and Cheryl ’85) and their careers in science and math, physical therapy, teaching, and art therapy. With the foundation they received at the Academy, their children went on to earn a number of advanced degrees, and each one remains a life-long learner.
     
  • Herr Hall

    Larry Hall (former Dean of Students, German teacher)

    Born in Akron, Ohio, during World War II, Larry Hall graduated from Bethany College, where he majored in Pipe Organ and minored in German. In 1979 he received a Master of Arts in German Literature from Duquesne University, after studying in Germany as a Fulbright Scholar during the summer of 1976. While attending graduate school, he served as the chapel organist.

    Larry served the Academy for almost 40 years, as German teacher in Middle and Senior Schools and 20 years as Senior School Dean of Students. He initiated the first student exchange program with a school in Munich, Germany, in 1978. Larry was committed to exchange programs and believed they offer students a global experience difficult to replicate in a classroom. Exchange programs and international experience continue to be a strong component of an Academy education through the Global Studies Program currently.

    Larry’s commitment to the Pillars Society is “to give students with demonstrated financial need the opportunity to participate in foreign travel programs. Therefore, I have provided Sewickley Academy with a gift of retirement plan assets for the sole purpose of supporting student foreign travel.”

The Pillars Society

The Pillars Society needs you to join, because we, like those who have gone before us, believe in the future of our school.
 
The Pillars Society recognizes those benefactors who, through an estate gift, believe in the future of our school and its mission to engage hearts, minds, and hands in the service of a greater good.

Your gift of whatever size can make a world of difference in the future of a child.
 
Pillars Society

James J. Angel ’77
Claire (Lang ’90) Ballantyne
Josephine Gilmore Bell ’54
Winifred Farin
John K.’51* and Doris Foster
Yale* and Louise Frame
Ronald E.* & C.A. Gebhardt
Deborah Gray ’68
Larry E. Hall
John O. Heard ’60
Dan & Joan Hilson
Nancy Crowley Inman ’84
Albert F.* and L. Gail Knight
Jeffrey A. Lenchner ’77
Dr. John S. Liggett, Jr.’66
George J. & Jaimie Magovern
John & Dolores Mahoney
Jennifer L. Markus ’89
David and Ellen Martin
Robert A. McKean III ’52
Maureen and Jack McKnight
Wm. John ’70 and Kathryn Powell
Robert W. Riordan
Elizabeth Standish Sackson ’83
Henry Z. Shenk ’74
Susan Ratcliffe Sour ’55
Billie Spencer ’67
Lee Jackson Warner ’78
Richard and Audrey Weinzierl
Missy Ratcliffe Zimmerman ’60

(Reviewed January 26, 2018)

We are grateful to these past benefactors:

Helen Collin Adams '40
Edward B. Blue ’10
William Boyd, Jr.’29
Constance Irwin Bray ’53
Nicholas C. Chubb ’37
Robert B. Egan
Gerta Engstrom family
Katherine C. Galbraith
Josephine “Bobbie” Gilmore
William R. Harper, Jr.
Mary Clause Heard
B.F. III and Katharine H. Jones
John P. Levis, Jr.
E. Thorne McKallip ’29
Otto and Maude Meinhardt
Anne McKnight Murdock ’37
Martha Anderson Nash ’37
Constance H. O’Neil ’30
George P. O’Neil ’30
Henry Oliver
John C. Oliver, Jr. ’26
Laura Liggett Oliver ’33
Virginia Rose Rea
Henriette E. Rougraff ’45
Lucy K. Schoonmaker
Frank C. Schroeder ’28
Alden H.J. Sector
Harton S. Semple ’36
G. Whitney Snyder
Judge William L. Standish ’44
 

Ways To Give

Through a planned or estate gift, donors can provide ongoing support to Sewickley Academy. Donors can choose structured gifts to be made after their lifetimes end, and take advantage of financial and tax benefits. 
Consider these options:
  • A bequest that states in your will your desire to give a specific dollar amount or a percentage of your resources
  • A gift from your IRA or life insurance policy that designates the Academy as a beneficiary
  • A charitable gift annuity or charitable trust
 
Sample language for bequests:
 
Residuary Bequest
I give and bequest all the rest, residue, and remainder of my estate, both real and personal,
to the endowment fund at Sewickley Academy, a non-profit school in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, to be used for its general purposes.
 
I give and bequest to Sewickley Academy, a non-profit school in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, the sum of ____________________ to the endowment fund to be used for its general purposes.
 
Percentage Bequest
I give and bequest to Sewickley Academy, a non-profit school in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, _____% of the rest, residue and remainder of my estate to the endowment fund for its general purposes.
 
To Create a New Endowment Fund
I give to Sewickley Academy, a non-profit school in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, the sum of $________________, the same to be known as “The _________________ Endowed Fund,”
the income therefrom to be used for the school’s general purposes (or describe a specific purpose: faculty support, student financial aid, Global Studies, performing arts, etc.).
 
Consult your attorney or financial advisor to assist you in the planning of your gift.
 
Should you choose to benefit Sewickley Academy in this way, please fill out the Letter of Intent (below) and send it to the attention of Susan (Ratcliffe ‘55) Sour. Copies of relevant parts of your will or beneficiary provisions would be most appreciated.
 
Questions? Please contact Susan Sour at 412.741.2230 ext. 3047 or ssour@sewickley.org.