Woman Bequeaths Millions for Diabetes
By Raymond McCaffrey
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, February 7, 2008
An 88-year-old woman, who perished with her husband as a result of a March 2007 fire at their Annapolis home, posthumously donated $7.3 million to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, one of the largest bequests in the nonprofit organization's history.
The size of the gift by Helene Whitlock Alley, whose husband, Reuben, 88, was a retired Naval Academy professor, shocked foundation officials. Alley, who had been active with the foundation's Maryland chapter, had told the group that she would make a bequest. But she didn't indicate how large the donation would be, said Alan Berkowitz, the group's national director of planned giving.
"We really had no idea at all the magnitude of this," Berkowitz said. "We have a lot of people who tell us they're going to leave us money, but we don't know how much it is going to be. It was rather unexpected."
Alley's late brother, Theodore Whitlock Jr., had Type 1 diabetes, and the gift was made in his memory and that of her father, Theodore Whitlock, according to the organization. The couple's only immediate survivor was their son, Robert, a children's book illustrator who lives in Rhode Island with his wife and two children, the foundation said.
Nothing in the foundation's records, dating to 1989, suggested the size of the donation, according to Berkowitz. The Alleys made 38 gifts totaling $27,488 to the foundation. The first recorded gift was for $100; the largest gift through the years was $5,000.
"I don't know if there's been a bigger one. I know it's certainly one of the biggest we've ever received," he said.
Berkowitz said when Alley first contacted the foundation about her plans, she said the bequest would total about $200,000. But that was a pledge.
"Wills can be changed at any point," Berkowitz said, "so you really can't tell what's going to happen."
The foundation kept in touch with the Alleys, making sure that they knew the pledge was appreciated, Berkowitz said. When the couple were invited to a foundation event several years ago, they said, " 'No, we can't come to the event, but we expect to leave you most of our estate,' " Berkowitz recalled.
Then, last year, Berkowitz learned about the death of the Alleys, caused when household items stored too close to portable electric heaters in the couple's living room caught fire. Alley's husband was pronounced dead at the scene, and she died later at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, officials said.
"After the fire, I got an e-mail from their attorney that they had passed away in a fire, which was quite shocking," Berkowitz said.
In June, the foundation received $2 million from Alley's estate, with the understanding that more was coming. But officials kept quiet.
"We didn't want to go public with an announcement of the amount until we were more sure," Berkowitz said.
That announcement came recently, following an additional donation of $4.8 million by the estate, with the promise of $500,000 more next year.
It is not clear what the source of Alley's wealth was. Berkowitz said Alley's father had been a successful businessman, and she indicated in her will that she owned Merck stock purchased when she worked at the pharmaceutical company as a secretary before she married in 1949.
"I think she held that stock throughout her life," he said.
Alley was specific about where she wanted her money to go: "She wanted it to be used to support research that would find a cure for diabetes that wouldn't require a person to take immunosuppression agents" after receiving transplanted pancreatic cells, Berkowitz said.
"Her wishes were pretty consistent with our mission."
The foundation was established in 1970 by parents whose children had Type 1 diabetes. Since then, it has given $1.16 billion for diabetes research, the foundation said.
"Our mission has always been to fund research and find a cure for diabetes and its complications," Berkowitz said.
That mission relies on fundraising and the generosity of supporters, many of whom are "small-dollar donors" -- or at least appear to be.
"In most cases," Berkowitz said, "we don't know the ones who are going to be big."
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