Our Donors & Their Gifts
Joseph C. FoxIn 1948, Joseph C. Fox ’38 built his family home in a country setting on the banks of the Hudson River in Riverdale, New York. With its sloping lawn and lovely gardens, it was hardly a location one would expect to find within the New York City limits. Yet it was a short train ride to Wall Street, where Joe spent most of his career in international banking.
Over fifty years later, after his children were grown with families of their own, Joe and his wife, Alison, found that they no longer needed such a spacious home and reluctantly made the decision to relocate. Rather than sell the property and incur substantial capital gains tax liability on its highly appreciated value, Joe elected to make a gift of the property to Yale.
As a result, the University was able to sell the property and apply its full value to support the Fox International Fellowship Program, which was initially funded with a gift from Joe in 1989. The program connects Yale to leading universities in eleven countries through the exchange of outstanding students with the potential for furthering world understanding.
Although leaving their long-held Riverdale home was a wrenching decision for Joe and Alison, they are enjoying their new retirement community near New Haven, which enables Joe to continue working closely with the Fox Fellowship Program, a vital part of Yale’s internationalization effort.