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A Tribute Gift of Life Insurance That Is Changing Lives

Looking for a Way to Make an Impact at Kenyon

Rich Brean

Rich Brean was able to attend Kenyon College thanks to a scholarship he received.

Rich Brean remembers the days when Kenyon struggled financially. He was a student in the late 1960s when the College's endowment was perilously small, and the first class of women arrived. Like many, he found Kenyon's economic and social transformation over the years incredibly fulfilling and has continued to stay involved. From his work with his graduate school, Princeton University, he has seen the difference a large endowment can make and became determined to do what he could to grow Kenyon's endowment.

Rich and his wife, Karen Markison Brean, looked for a way to make an impact at Kenyon that was within their means. They decided to give the College a life insurance policy he had purchased as a young attorney but no longer needed to protect his family. "I'm not a wealthy person, but this was something of great value that I had to give," he says. "It allows for a gift so much greater than what you otherwise could afford."

Rich Brean

Rich Brean credits Kenyon for changing his life. His family's gifts help ensure a Kenyon education is within reach of deserving students well into the future.

With their gift, they created the Harry and Sadie Brean/Charles and Millie Markison Family Fund in memory of their parents, and several members of their family have also contributed. The new fund supports the Pope Memorial Scholarship Fund, named in honor of Class of 1970 President Ruben E. "Ed" Pope III, a founding member of Kenyon's Black Student Union, who was committed to increasing the number of inner-city students enrolled at Kenyon. "Ed was always on the right side of every moral issue," Rich recalls.

The Pope Memorial Scholarship Fund, which specifically supports the urban Ohio students Ed sought to attract to Kenyon, was created by Rich and his 1970 classmates Murray Horwitz and Eugene "Buddha" Peterson after Ed's passing in 2014. Many class members and other friends of Ed contributed.

As the Class of 1970 approaches its 50th reunion next May, Rich hopes that his classmates will consider further gifts to honor Ed and celebrate the milestone. "Do you have a paid-up life insurance policy your family no longer requires? You can use it to support the Pope Fund," remarks Rich.

The idea of greater accessibility to a life-changing Kenyon education is close to Rich's heart. "Kenyon was an enormously meaningful time in my life. I dreamed of attending a residential liberal arts college, but it was a dream beyond my family's resources. Kenyon made that dream come true with a full tuition scholarship. That made possible everything that happened in my life after."

Kenyon changed "everything" for Rich, who went into a long legal career, culminating in his role as general counsel of the United Steelworkers International Union, the largest industrial union in North America.

To learn how you can make a gift of your life insurance policy or contribute to the Pope Memorial Scholarship Fund, contact Kate Daleiden at 740-427-5729 or plannedgiving@kenyon.edu.