Couple Expands Scholarship By Giving Through Their Life Insurance
By Grace Merritt
Tom ’74 (CLAS) and Eileen Marston
Lifelong UConn supporters Tom ’74 (CLAS) and Eileen Marston recently took their love of the University a step further with a gift through Tom’s life insurance policy.
They named the UConn Foundation as a beneficiary to receive half of the policy. Through this planned gift, they will be able to expand their existing scholarship fund, the Tom and Eileen Marston Scholarship.
“This was a way to set a substantial amount aside to continue the scholarship in perpetuity,” Tom says.
The Tom and Eileen Marston Scholarship already has provided financial support for 11 undergraduates at the Avery Point campus since it was established in 2010. Now, their generous legacy will support many more students for years to come.
“Creating a scholarship has been very rewarding,” Tom says. “We’ve even met some of the recipients over the years.”
Tom did not attend the Avery Point campus, but his father, Thomas R. Marston ’71 (ED), did. His father’s class was among the first to graduate from Avery Point shortly after it opened in 1967. The Marstons decided to earmark their scholarship to support Avery Point students to honor him and meet a need.
Tom, a former UConn men’s basketball season ticket holder, spent most of his career at the Connecticut Water, rising through the ranks to become vice president of business development. He tapped his water company expertise to volunteer on the advisory board of the University’s Institute of Water Resources.
Eileen graduated from Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island. After college, she held several administrative jobs, then devoted herself to volunteer work, raising service dogs.
Now retired, the Marstons live in Leland, North Carolina, but still find their way to a UConn basketball game or two in the region every year.
Like the Marstons, you can support deserving students with a planned gift to the University of Connecticut Foundation. Contact Gregory A. Knott, PhD, JD at (860) 336-1468 or giftplanning@foundation.uconn.edu for more information.
“The scholarship has allowed me to focus more on my school assignments without worrying about whether I’ll be able to pay tuition. I’ve been able to do more on campus and focus on studying because I can cut back on the number of hours I need to spend working.”
—Benjamin LeBlanc ’25, coastal studies major on the Avery Point campus and current Tom and Eileen Marston Scholarship recipient
Information contained herein was accurate at the time of posting. The information on this website is not intended as legal or tax advice. For such advice, please consult an attorney or tax advisor. Figures cited in any examples are for illustrative purposes only. References to tax rates include federal taxes only and are subject to change. State law may further impact your individual results. California residents: Annuities are subject to regulation by the State of California. Payments under such agreements, however, are not protected or otherwise guaranteed by any government agency or the California Life and Health Insurance Guarantee Association. Oklahoma residents: A charitable gift annuity is not regulated by the Oklahoma Insurance Department and is not protected by a guaranty association affiliated with the Oklahoma Insurance Department. South Dakota residents: Charitable gift annuities are not regulated by and are not under the jurisdiction of the South Dakota Division of Insurance.