Charitable Remainder Trust Honors a Memory
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Vivian A. and Dr. James L. Curtis |
University of Michigan alumni and longtime supporters Vivian A. Curtis (MSW ’48) and her husband Dr. James L. Curtis (MD ’46) have given a very generous gift to the School of Social Work to fund an endowment to support master's and doctoral students.
To recognize the gift, the school's research center will be renamed the Vivian A. and James L. Curtis School of Social Work Research and Training Center. The goal of the center is to foster interdisciplinary, externally funded research in mental health, substance abuse, and health that impact vulnerable populations.
To create the endowment fund, the Curtises established a charitable remainder unitrust that will provide an income to their son Paul for his lifetime. When Paul passes away, the remainder of the trust will go to the School of Social Work. Dr. Curtis is delighted that the payments to Paul will likely serve as a hedge against inflation. Now that the University is able to invest charitable remainder trusts alongside endowment funds (see related story), he knows that Paul’s payments should increase over time. By funding this trust with appreciated securities, Dr. Curtis enjoyed substantial tax savings and the chance to provide for his son. He is also recognizing Vivian’s career and affection for the school.
Dr. and Mrs. Curtis met in 1948 at Wayne County General Hospital, where Vivian conducted her field placement in psychiatric social work while James was in the first year of his psychiatric residency training. They married the following year and moved to New York City, where he pursued his career in academic psychiatry and she began her social work career.
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Vivian A. and Dr. James L. Curtis |
Vivian held faculty appointments at many of New York’s major universities. For 46 years she was on the social work staff of Kings County Hospital, the largest unit of the New York City hospital system, and the teaching hospital of the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn. As director of the department of social work for 25 years, she and her staff supervised students from all of the New York schools of social work doing their field work placements in the medical, surgical, or psychiatric services. Vivian retired in 1995. James Curtis retired in 2000 after nearly 20 years as director of psychiatry at Harlem Hospital.
The Curtises moved back to Michigan after Vivian Curtis was diagnosed with progressive Alzheimer’s disease. This gift through the charitable remainder trust creates a warm tribute to Vivian. "Vivian's great pride in the U-M School of Social Work, from which she graduated, is what convinced me that this would be an appropriate memorial to her career," Curtis said. "The U-M School of Social Work's academic mission and commitment to excellence were also very important in my decision."
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