Nov. 8, 2006
Jackson Makes $100,000 Pledge to MU from His IRA
By HNN Staff
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| Marshall President Stephen J. Kopp, seated on the left, and Richard
Jackson, also seated, pose with R.J. Gimbl, Executive Director of the Big
Green Scholarship Foundation Inc., behind Kopp, and Bob Marcum, director of
athletics, behind Jackson. The Big Green is one of three beneficiaries of
Jackson’s $100,000 gift to Marshall from his IRA. (Photo by Rick Haye).
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Jackson’s gift, made possible from the Pension Protection Act of 2006, will be a tax-free gift of $100,000 made directly to Marshall from his IRA. The gift will be designated to:
• Richard Delyn Jackson Endowment for New Business Frontiers
• Society of Yeager Scholars program
• Big Green Scholarship Foundation Inc.
“All donors are absolutely essential and really underwrite the future of the university,” Marshall President Stephen J. Kopp said. “Richard Jackson is a very important alumnus to Marshall University. We are blessed to have major donors like Richard who do not limit their giving to one area.”
Jackson planned for Marshall to be the beneficiary of his IRA at his death.
But the new federal legislation allows the transfer of a portion of these funds to be made during the donor’s lifetime. For 2006 and 2007, Congress is allowing individuals to make tax-free direct transfers from IRAs to qualified charities, such as Marshall.
Donors, age 70 ˝ and above, can now donate up to $100,000 a year directly from their IRAs. The gift provides the equivalent of a 100 percent income tax charitable contribution deduction for the gift.
“This is something everybody should look at. It’s a wonderful opportunity,” Jackson said. “People at this age and with this opportunity should take advantage of this. It’s a tax-free way to provide something to the university in a way that would have minimal impact on their personal expenses.”
Jackson has been honored with membership in the university’s Heritage Society, in recognition of his planned gift. He serves on the Yeager Scholars Board of Directors, has been inducted into the MU Business Hall of Fame and has received a Doctor of Humane Letters honorary degree and the Alumni Association Community Achievement Award from Marshall.
Jackson, currently Chairman of the Board with ebank Financial Services Inc. in Atlanta and former chief executive officer of Georgia Federal and First Georgia Bank, has lived in Atlanta since 1968. The football scenes and other portions of the soon-to-be-released Warner Bros. film, We Are Marshall, were filmed in Atlanta.
Jackson has written three books: Too Stupid to Quit: Banking and Business Lessons Learned the Hard Way; Yesterdays Are Forever, A Rite of Passage through the Marine Corps and Vietnam War, and The Last Fast White Boy, a story about athletics at Marshall during Jackson’s involvement in various sports – including football – during the 1950s.
For more information on giving to Marshall University, contact Dr. Lynne S. Mayer, Associate Vice President for Development at (304) 696-6214.
