The family of a Texas alumnus who died in December 2011 is honoring him with a $1 million planned gift to the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, the school announced Monday.
William R. “Bill” Toller of Cypress, Texas, was a 1955 UA business graduate and a former CEO with a chemical company called Witco, said UA spokesman Jennifer Holland.
Of the gift proceeds, $250,000 will go toward the William R. Toller Alumni Legacy Endowed Scholarship, which will help support an existing academic-merit program called the Arkansas Alumni Association Freshman Scholarships. The remaining $750,000 will help fund the Jim and Joyce Faulkner Performing Arts Center on the campus.
Toller’s family made the contribution using an estate-planning tool called a charitable lead trust.
Jim Harris, executive director of gift and estate planning in the UA Development Office, said Monday afternoon that such trusts are set up by donors for a lifetime or a period of years. The trust makes payments to charity for a specified time period, then the remaining part of the trust is turned over to a person’s children or grandchildren.
“It reduces gift and estate taxes,” he said.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 8 on 07/30/2013