Gifts in Action - Arnold Peck

MEET ARNOLD PECK

After 50 years of practicing medicine, Arnold Peck, MD ’64, still remembers the person who helped lead him down the path toward dermatology— Adolph Rostenberg, MD, who served as department head from 1959 until 1974.

“He was a very inspirational man,” says Peck of Rostenberg. “He had a lot to do with me becoming a dermatologist.” Peck worked as a student in his office and has never forgotten the man he considers his mentor. Although the two lost touch shortly after Peck graduated and when Rostenberg retired, Peck has never forgotten his teacher.

WHY HE GAVE

Peck did not want others to forget Rostenberg either, so he and his wife, Karen, have decided to memorialize his esteemed professor through an endowment fund in his name. “My hope with this gift is that it will encourage others to give as well,” Peck says. “Maybe it will even prompt others to remember the teachers who were an inspiration to them.”

HOW HE GAVE

The Arnold M. Peck, MD, Endowment Fund in Memory of Adolph Rostenberg, MD, will provide unrestricted research funds to the department of dermatology. The gift strategy that Dr. and Mrs. Peck chose for this gift— to establish a charitable gift annuity—is a beneficial one for the donor as well as the College of Medicine. He will receive a tax deduction and a lifetime stream of income, of which a portion is tax-free, and the college benefits from the establishment of a permanent endowment at a later date.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

“Dr. Peck’s gift was a pleasant surprise,” says Lawrence Chan, MD, head of dermatology. “It will greatly enhance our ability to fund educational programs and provide unrestricted funds for educational research for many years to come.”