When Robert “Bob” Hillstrom ’70

decided to add William Mitchell

College of Law to his estate plan,

he found a way to make sure his

goals were met and to keep the

process simple—he included his

estate planning attorney and William

Mitchell’s development office in the

discussion. Over the years, Bob, a constant companion to his late wife, Patricia, had given a lot of thought to his experience at William Mitchell and how his legal education launched his successful law career. William Mitchell also launched the career of one of their sons, Scott Hillstrom ’84. “Everything that I have that I value, other than family and some friends, I owe to my time at William Mitchell,” Bob says. So, at his regular estate plan review with his attorney, Gregory Van Heest, ’90 LL.M., of Gries & Lenhardt in St. Michael, Minn., Bob mentioned adding William Mitchell to his trust. Early in the discussions, Bob contacted William Mitchell’s development office and spoke to Marie Ruzek ’01, one of the development officers, about his thoughts for a legacy gift to the law school. And then Bob did something that very few people who are considering an estate gift do. He gave William Mitchell’s representative permission to work directly with his estate planning advisor. When everyone is working toward the same goal, in this case, a gift for the benefit of William Mitchell through a living trust, the experience can be very rewarding for all involved. During law school, Bob had received a full-tuition scholarship for being the top student in his class after his first year. That scholarship, which had been contributed by a West Publishing executive, made it possible for him to attend law school while he was supporting his young family. When he heard that William Mitchell had no privately funded full-tuition scholarships, he knew that was how he wanted to help. But there were a lot of details to work out. Enter Greg, the attorney advisor, and Marie, the gift planner. “I had complete confidence in Marie and Greg,” Bob says. “They

took the work out of my hands.” They reviewed sample scholarship endowment agreements provided by William Mitchell’s development office and talked with Bob as he refined his ideas for the scholarship. “I was able to serve as a sounding board for Bob,” Greg says. “I also acted as an intermediary with the law school to discuss the details of how best to structure the terms of the gift in order to meet Bob’s goals and to make the gift easy for William Mitchell to administer.”

Over time, a plan for Bob’s scholarship endowment emerged. He created the $2 million Robert A. and Patricia L. Hillstrom Scholarship Fund, which will provide full-tuition scholarships to one or more students after their first and/or second year. The scholarship honors the lifework and generosity of Bob and Patricia. To preserve the purpose and meaning behind this wonderful legacy gift, Marie drafted language in the scholarship agreement that highlights matters of importance to Bob, including his lifelong friendship with Judge Ronald Hachey ’43; acknowledgement of his and Patricia’s son, Scott, who has established a foundation that has saved the lives of thousands of children;

Bob’s strong belief in the separation of church and state; and a memorial to Patricia, who was a “wonderfully compassionate person, raised their family, and was an active community volunteer.” “It’s a tremendously good feeling to give back,” Bob says about his scholarship endowment. “I hope the scholarship enables some students to have a career as satisfying as mine.” Creating the endowment was gratifying for his advisors, too. “It is rewarding to know that I was able to help facilitate Bob’s generous gift. It will be a great help to William Mitchell College of Law and its students into the future,” Greg says. “And it has been fun for me to experience how much joy the process of making the gift can bring to an individual.”

The Making of a Scholarship

Building Your LegacyGift Planning NewsletterSpring 2011

Steps to making a legacy gift

Talk to William Mitchell’s development office about the impact of legacy gifts.

Include your attorney, financial advisor, or accountant in the conversation.

Invite everyone to work together to get the best result.

“Everything that I have

that I value, other than

family and some friends,

I owe to my time at

William Mitchell.”

875 Summit Avenue St. Paul, MN 55105

wmitchell.edu

For the past 15 years, Mitchell student Jenny Nystrom has been working with separated parents to improve the lives of the children caught in the middle of broken families. That’s the kind of childhood she had, and she’s made it her goal to make a difference in the lives of other children living in unstable families. Jenny’s passion to help families in need led her to law school, but she worried about paying off law school loans and providing for her own family on a public interest salary. She decided that she would put her career goal aside for awhile and seek a higher paying job to pay off her student loans. Story continued below...

Then she received the Justice Helen M. Meyer Scholarship, and her goal was within reach again. As members of William Mitchell’s Heritage Society, Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Helen Meyer ‘83 and her husband William Bieber started the scholarship with a living endowment (a combination of an estate gift and annual contributions). The scholarship, Jenny says, gave her “the financial freedom to pursue the work that is important to me immediately.” Justice Meyer’s scholarship is designated for students committed to public interest work. When Jenny graduates this December, she will honor that commitment and continue pursuing her passion to help fractured families. “What a gift . . . to me, to my family, and to the families I hope to serve,” she says. For information on how you can make this type of lasting impact or for details on “living endowments” please contact us.

Scholarship helps student Jenny Nystrom pursue her passion: healing fractured families

Building Your Legacy

What a gift... to me, to my family and to the families I hope to serve.

Leave a Legacy at Mitchell

Is William Mitchell in your estate plan? Provide your attorney with this sample bequest language for your will or trust:

I give William Mitchell College of Law, 875 Summit Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55105, (the sum, percentage, or description of property), to be used wherever the needs and opportunities are greatest.

William Mitchell Tax ID number: 41-0518750

Contact us for more information or to discuss options.

Contact William Mitchell

By Phone Call 651-290-6412 and ask to speak to a Gift Planning representative.

By E-mail Send your questions or requests to marie.ruzek@wmitchell.edu.

On the Web Watch for news coming soon about William Mitchell’s new gift planning webpage.

wmitchell.edu

Gift Planning Newsletter