David Lawson ’70 Gives Life
Insurance Policy to GA

When David Lawson ’70 was still in middle school, he and a friend who was already attending Ger-mantown Academy convinced his parents that David should go there because it is “the best school in the Philadelphia area.” Now, many years later and following a successful career as an investment manager, David still believes that is true—and in gratitude has donated a life insurance policy to the school and makes annual contributions to pay the premium.

“The education that GA provided me was exceptional—I was always encouraged to think critically and independently on a wide variety of subjects, which helped me in so many ways,” David says. “I cannot begin to describe how much GA has meant to me, both professionally and personally.”

A life insurance policy is one of the easy ways to make a gift to Germantown Academy. The donor gets an income-tax deduction in the year of the gift, and there also are annual income-tax deduc-tions if premiums are still owed on the policy and the donor makes contributions to cover them—as in David’s case.

“Giving life insurance is a unique way to make a lifelong (and then some) commitment to the school that could be large enough to make a meaningful difference in perpetuating GA’s educa-tional excellence,” David says.

He worked on the gift with Martin Dean, associate director of institutional advancement.

“I have always worked with Martin on contributions, either annual fund or capital campaign, that I have made in the past,” he says. “In this particular case, I worked with an insurance firm to set up the policy and then with Martin to make sure everything was fair to GA.”

David grew up in Flourtown, less than four miles from the Academy—and still lives there. After graduation he earned a bachelor’s degree from Boston University and an MBA from Temple Univer-sity. He became a chartered financial analyst in 1985 and has been in the investment management business for 40 years. He and his wife Julie have been married for 41 years and have two children and one grandchild, with another due this summer.

For many years he has been one of Germantown’s class agents, helping to organize reunions and other events as well as promoting annual giving by classmates. He was very involved in athletics at GA, playing soccer, basketball, and baseball every year—and enjoys coming back to campus to sup-port those teams. He was also involved in student government and was president of the senior class.

He lauded “the friendships you make while at GA—not just with fellow students but also with teachers, coaches, and administrators.”

“I have enjoyed these friendships for 55 years and counting—and am so fortunate to be able to see my GA family on a regular basis,” he says.

His favorite subject at GA was Spanish, which he took for five years—four of them with his favorite teacher, the late Sam Bodine, a Princeton and Harvard graduate who taught at Germantown for 21 years beginning in 1954.

“He was so good at presenting Spanish as the lively and passionate language that it is,” David says. “When Sam wanted to emphasize a particular word or expression in Spanish, he would stand on his chair or pound his hands on the table to make sure he had our attention!”

It is those priceless memories that inspire David to give to GA.

“I feel it is important to support people and institutions that help young people realize their full potential, and I believe GA accomplishes that year in and year out,” David says. “As a society we are only as good as the education of the generations that follow us. We need to make sure that GA has the power to provide that education.”