“I’ll always wanted to pay back the Institute for everything it gave to me–knowledge, friendships, and an education for me and my two children, who also graduated from MIT,” says Victor Chung. Along with his wife, Ida, he recently established a unitrust that will benefit the Ida F. O. and Victor K. Chung Fund, which provides undergraduate scholarships in the Department of Physics. The unitrust is invested in the MIT endowment.
“The unitrust is great because it offers diversification of your investments,” Victor says. “Because you are giving money to a good cause, it’s also a tax deduction.” By using stocks to establish the unitrust, the couple also avoids the capital gains tax.
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Victor says they chose to invest in the endowment fund because “not only is it professionally managed, but it also invests in areas which we cannot access ourselves, like private equity or natural resources.” The Chungs will receive income for life from the unitrust.
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Victor earned an MIT bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering in 1961 and a master’s in 1962. After earning a PhD in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1966, he began his career as a research associate at the University of California, San Diego. In 1968 he became a professor of physics at the City College of New York, where he went on to serve as deputy chairman of the physics department for a decade and as director of the City College Planetarium for 15 years. He retired in 2007. A member of MIT’s Educational Council for more than 30 years, Victor also served as a regional vice chairman of the council, which works with the admissions office to recruit the best and brightest students. Victor and Ida love to travel and have visited Europe, South America, and the Far East.
“MIT made a big impression on me,” says Victor. “I have to say I was lucky. Practically every day, I was doing something that I enjoyed. MIT gave me a life in academics and science, and it has been as close to a perfect life as you can imagine.”
A donor can now establish a trust invested in the MIT endowment and benefit from its diversified investment portfolio. The income paid by such trusts will increase as the endowment does.
