A Legacy to the Place They Love
Retirees Art and Lucy Moore say their bequest ‘pays forward’ to help tomorrow’s educators become leaders in technology.
When Art and Lucy Moore started contemplating their place in the chain of life, thoughts turned to UF — more precisely, to the value of an education.
So this spring the retired couple decided to make a $250,000 bequest to UF’s College of Education. Their gift will create an endowed scholarship for graduate students studying educational technology.
It’s a field close to Art Moore’s heart. At Centre College in Kentucky — where he spent much of his working life — he directed the school’s information technology programs. Lucy Moore, meanwhile, had been a senior secretary at Philips North America Corp. in Danville, KY.
“We sincerely hope that our gift will enable young men and women to prepare for a lifetime of teaching and, in practicing their vocation, to utilize technology to enhance the experiences of their students,” Art Moore (B.S.E. ’68, M.Ed. ’71) says.
Naming UF a beneficiary in their estate plan wasn’t a difficult choice, the couple insist. Moore’s time in Gainesville as an undergraduate and graduate was special, he says; and his degrees introduced him to jobs that turned into 41 years of teaching and working as an administrator in higher education. As decades passed, his warmth toward UF never changed. Each return to campus rekindled feelings of home and belonging.
“Our annual philanthropy includes several not-for-profit organizations — we will include some of them in our estate planning directives,” Moore explains. “However, the University of Florida is a priority. My student experiences — not only in the classroom but also in the living environment, the social activities, intramural sports, ROTC and work study — were all richly rewarding.”
That there was an option to include his alma mater in their will, rather than with an out-right cash gift now, made supporting UF simple, Moore says, adding that he and Lucy wanted to make their plans “while we are sufficiently competent to do so.”
“The estate gift made it possible to provide a legacy to a place we both love,” he says.
And their scholarship for College of Education students is the perfect spot for that legacy, Moore believes.
“I know the value of higher education, particularly when and where it employs technology,” he says. “Lucy and I want to help make it possible for additional students to enter and engage that arena.”
Generous as their philanthropy is, the Moores don’t consider their contribution extraordinary. All alumni who can trace their professional successes to the university should want to give back, if they’re able, so other generations can follow in their footprints, Moore says.
“A financial gift to the University of Florida,” he promises, “pays forward opportunities for the future leaders at both the local and national levels.”
