A Legacy of Hope
Letting Love and Logic Guide Their Giving
Enduring legacies have helped enrich Jeff Kuhn’s life. He is passionate about golf, for instance, a sport with origins that can be traced to 15th-century Scotland. In becoming an attorney, he chose a profession with ancient roots; his legal forbears include Hammurabi, the sixth king of Babylon who wrote the first codes of law in recorded history.
Jeff and his wife, Cynthia, started a legacy of their own when they established a planned testamentary gift, along with the Jeffrey S. Kuhn Chancellor's Excellence Endowment. Through these gifts, the Kuhns will help to sustain important initiatives undertaken by The University of Texas System and UT institutions long after they depart this world.
“Education is the most important building block in the continued development of our state,” says Jeff, a UT Austin graduate who also gives generously to his alma mater. “My gifts to UT Austin and UT Law School came more from my heart,” he says. Logic, however, was the driving force behind the family’s decision to give to the UT System. “If Texas is to continue its leadership in technology, medicine or any other field,” Jeff states, “the state must offer exceptional higher education options to its citizens and cultivate exploration through its research universities.”
The UT System greatly expanded the options available to people in South Texas when UT Rio Grande Valley opened in 2015. “The new university and new medical school are filling a large vacuum,” Jeff says, noting that many of the students who benefit from these institutions are, or will be, first-generation college students. Meeting the needs of these students is more than a responsibility, he asserts—it’s vital for Texas’ continued growth.
Cynthia, a Baylor alumna, agrees. She appreciates “all the ways in which the UT System helps people”—across the state and close to home. As a Houstonian, she particularly admires the advancements in patient care at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center. As a parent, she is thankful for how well a UT institution prepared her daughters for their futures: both graduated from UT Austin and are now pursuing very different careers; Alicia manages fundraising campaigns for the Memorial Hermann Foundation and Kristen helps coordinate Exxon Mobil’s drilling operations in exploratory areas.
It was her daughters’ sound education, in fact, that inspired Cynthia and her husband’s interest in establishing the first planned gift for the UT System. “We wanted our gift—which is large for us—to benefit future chancellors and students,” says Jeff.
“The UT System is a game changer for so many across the state,' adds Cynthia. She and Jeff want to be a part of that positive change. “We’re not super-rich millionaires,” she hastens to add. “We’re just average, everyday people, planning ahead. It will be exciting to see what happens in the years ahead.”
If you would like more information about how to start an endowment, please contact the Office of External Relations at giving@utsystem.edu ♦ 512-499-4777