A Special Gift of Appreciated Stock—Dr. Joe ’59 and Jean St. Clair

Saint Anselm College lore has it that when the almost-completed main building was destroyed by a fire in February 1892, the understandably discouraged monks on the Hilltop wrote to their Abbot in New Jersey asking if they should pack up and return to Saint Mary's Abbey. The abbot is said to have written back "Plant apple trees!" In other words, dig in, rebuild, and provide for future generations with work you may not see the benefit of right away.

Dr. Joseph St. Clair, D.V.M., Class of 1959, and his wife Jean planted some apple trees of their own on the Hilltop a few years back by donating a highly appreciated block of Apple, Inc. stock to the college to fund the cell biology lab's upgrade and modernization. Their gift funded the reestablishment and equipping of the mammalian cell tissue laboratory in the Goulet Science Center with a quantitative PCR (qPCR) machine, two laminar floor hoods, and additional basics required for cell culture.

"Experience with this type of equipment is what employees are asking for," said biology professor and chair Brian Penney. "These skills lead directly to jobs."

Using stock that has gone up significantly in value to make a gift to the college is an easy and tax-smart way to give. The college realizes the full value of the stock, and the donor gets a full charitable deduction for the gift but avoids capital-gain taxes they would have owed had they sold the stock. It may be a stock other than Apple, but gifts of appreciated securities can result in apple trees for generations of Saint Anselm students to come.

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