Two Men, Remembered

Eighteen years ago this Thursday, on February 26, 1991, San Francisco State President Robert A. Corrigan stood at a podium and announced that two men who died of AIDS had established grants for gays at three Bay Area universities.

Thomas Markowski died in 1987 at the age of 29. James Leach died in 1989 at the age of 32. Had they lived, they would be 52 and 53 now. Theirs is a typical story of what San Francisco and the world lost to the epidemic of AIDS in the 1980's and beyond.

They met in Houston in 1981. They moved to San Francisco in 1982, seeking career opportunities and a more active gay community. The San Francisco Bay area gave them a chance to succeed financially and to live openly as gay lovers. As both men became ill with AIDS, they decided to give something back after their deaths to the community they loved. They wanted to create a scholarship fund to give other gays and lesbians (and now bisexuals and transgenders) the opportunity to educate themselves.

They felt strongly that it was very hard for gays and lesbians to get ahead in business because you either had to be in the closet or would not get promotions. They wanted to make higher education available so gays and lesbians could get into leadership positions and make sure that being gay or lesbian wasn't an obstacle to getting ahead.

The gift was made possible from the proceeds of life insurance policies and real estate investment. (They owned a small apartment house in San Francisco that they renovated.) The fund started at $200,000 ... but can you imagine how many self-identified gay students have been helped through the years? I'm guessing somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 or so.

In many respects, a classic planned gift:

• a gift of a lifetime,
• a gift where the impact extends far beyond the lifespan of the donors,
• a gift that makes a transformational difference for a cause related to the donors' values
• a gift for which the donors are remembered

And yet, I can't help but think how remarkable it was for them to have had the foresight to do something like that. Now, years and years later, students can still apply for scholarships at San Francisco State, UC Berkeley, or Stanford. This year's deadline is April 15.

I am moved by this story. I did not know either of these men. I wish I had known them. They were contemporaries of mine. I would have been honored to call them friends.