Gifts That Pay You Back
Charitable Gift Annuity – Deferred

Joan Lam '62

"I had no idea until senior year I had to actually put a needle in someone's arm," Joan says with a laugh. "I passed out. I said, 'I can't do this!'" But she got over that hurdle, completed her B.S. at the School of Public Health, and went on to a successful career in clinical laboratory science.

Joan got something else from Cal — an opportunity to explore her love of music. "I was walking by Hertz Hall," she remembers, "and I heard this heavenly sound! It was the University Chorus singing Brahms' Requiem. I went in and said to myself, 'I want to do this!'" She credits joining the Chorus with changing her life — it led to a parallel career in choral performance and, for several years, symphonic orchestra management. She is active in choral performance, in venues around the world, to this day. "I travel and sing. Music making is challenging and exciting," she explains. "I've made wonderful friends through the arts, nationally and internationally."

Joan's philanthropy to her alma mater reflects her broad Cal experience. She established a deferred gift annuity at the University that will eventually benefit the School of Public Health, the Department of Music, and the College of Environmental Design. Because her annuity is deferred, it will pay her income for life beginning at some future date — when she decides that income will do her the most good.

Joan has also made many smaller current-use gifts that allow her to see the benefits of her philanthropy today. These include a scholarship in the School of Public Health and one in the College of Environmental Design honoring her late cousin, architect Jason Yuen. "I'm big on scholarships," she admits. Last year, she had the great pleasure of learning that one of her scholarship recipients was accepted to medical school. "I was so proud," she remembers. For the Department of Music, she replaced 100 copies of the Brahms Requiem, and in 2006 another gift established the Joan Lam Choral Library.

Asked why she is such a strong supporter of Berkeley, Joan gives two responses. First, she feels a welcome sense of responsibility: "We have already graduated, so we should be mentors to the next generation." Her second reason is more personal. "Being at Cal," she says, "taught me how to live. And it showed me that there was so much in the world."

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