Gail and Michael Marcus

Michael: “We’d always made annual gifts to MIT, but what spurred us to increase our giving was a matching challenge from one of our classmates at our 25th reunion. Later, we started thinking about our legacy, and since we have seen the importance of technology policy, we established a fund to support engineering students in the Washington Summer Internship Program in the Department of Political Science. To support it further, a few years ago we established a trust. In addition to aiding MIT, the trust gives us immediate benefits, including income for life, tax benefits, and professional management and diversification of our investment portfolio.”

Gail: “We see this as a win-win. We wanted to give to MIT anyway because it influenced our careers—indeed, our lives—in so many ways. We owe MIT a lot. We met the first week of classes and married two days after graduation. And our MIT degrees and contacts have led to stimulating careers. For 50 years, the Institute has been an important force in our lives. We’re happy to be able to support it.”

Michael earned a bachelor’s degree in 1968 and an ScD in 1972, both in electrical engineering. After a stint in the U.S. Air Force, he served in the Office of Engineering and Technology at the Federal Communications Commission, where he specialized in policies for radio technologies. He is responsible for proposing the framework that became Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

Gail earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in physics in 1968 and an ScD in nuclear engineering in 1971. She was the first woman in the United States to earn a doctorate in nuclear engineering. She served in senior management positions at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Nuclear Energy Agency in Paris.

Both Michael and Gail have also worked in professional positions in Tokyo. Active MIT volunteers, they have served as cosecretaries for the Class of ’68, and each has served as president of the MIT Club of Washington, D.C. They enjoy sailing and traveling.

Please consider your own gift to MIT.
For information, contact David Woodruff: 617-253-3990; daw@mit.edu. Or visit giving.mit.edu.