“Great Believer in Education” Makes a Plan for UNLV

Michael Joe, a first-year student in the William S. Boyd School of Law, knows quickly and definitely what he likes. “Contracts,” he says. “I like my class on contracts and all the various cases we study. I like synthesizing the facts.” He calls himself a very logical thinker, and the preponderance of evidence shows that he is just that — in the classroom, as a volunteer, and in his personal life.

Joe, educated at two of the nation’s top-tier universities, has an advantage on his classmates. Before he had even taken his first law class, he wrote an important legal document: He drafted a will to distribute his estate assets to various nonprofit organizations, including UNLV’s Boyd School of Law.

“I am a great believer in education,” Joe explains. “All three institutions where I’ve attended are in my will.” His calculated plans mean that he can distribute his assets where he likes and how he believes his gifts will have the greatest effect. “Here at UNLV, I look at my fellow students and I see their youth, intelligence, and determination. But more importantly, I see young people of great character. What greater gift can I make than one that promotes and encourages their success?” His estate plan, built to share the ideals he and his wife valued through their lives, will maximize funds for charity and mitigate his total estate taxes. 

It’s no surprise why Joe chose to invest his estate in nonprofit organizations. A leader in volunteer circles for more than 15 years, he dedicated his efforts to their growth and to help them focus on long-term strategies. But it may be his decades-long executive career in the high-tech industry that helped him understand the importance of investment, particularly endowments that allow charities to balance growth with calculated risk. His gift to UNLV will allow the Boyd School of Law to capitalize on emerging opportunities to benefit generations of students just like him.