A Boy’s Life Insurance Policy Becomes a Major Gift
James Hogan ‘58
1941-2012
The late James Hogan had a very impressive 32-year career as a chemistry professor at McGill University in Montreal. When he reconnected with his alma mater in 1996 (at the time of his mother’s death), Jim recounted how his love for chemistry started at Notre Dame in Brother John Neidl’s class. Observing Br. John’s enthusiasm for the subject and for teaching, Jim and seven other classmates went into the field of chemistry. Jim went on to earn a Bachelor of Science Degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.
Jim began building a family legacy at Notre Dame by establishing a scholarship in the name of his mother Elizabeth J. Hogan using some of the proceeds of her estate. Jim then became an annual donor to that scholarship fund.
When he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, Jim began to think about his own legacy at Notre Dame. Jim related that his father bought life insurance policies in his name back in the 1950s. He informed Notre Dame of his decision to combine the two policies and to make Notre Dame High School the beneficiary. “The way I see it, I never put a penny into either of those policies,” Hogan said at that time. “It makes sense to use them for something good. Right now, as I’m dealing with cancer, my decision to have done so is a great source of satisfaction.”
The proceeds of those 50-plus-year-old policies, resulted in a gift of $70,000. Today, the Notre Dame Chemistry Lab, renovated in 2009, bears the name of James Hogan ’58.
