Mikols’ Estate-Plan Gift Will Help Support Future Generations of Talented Students

Gerard (Gary) and Janice (Jan) Mikol are lifelong residents of Chicago’s northwest side. After more than three decades of philanthropic support to Dominican, the couple has made the university the beneficiary of their Fidelity charitable giving account. “Our giving experience has been uniformly positive,” they say. “When it came time to determine a beneficiary for our account, Dominican was an obvious choice.”

Now both retired, Jan enjoyed a 30-year career in banking while Gary spent most of his professional life at Dominican. “Upon receiving my PhD in chemistry, I taught at another local university for three years,” he says. “When an opportunity to teach at the then Rosary College emerged, I jumped at it. I was drawn to the smaller, liberal arts environment and the sense of community that permeated the campus. Being lifelong Catholics, Rosary College’s Dominican identity was also appealing.”

Their first gifts included purchasing tickets for the Trustee Benefit Gala. “At the time, I was a heavy smoker and was annually spending on cigarettes what it cost for two tickets to the concert,” Gary says. “I used this event as motivation to give up smoking and became a regular supporter of the Benefit.” Funding an endowed scholarship followed as well as consistent support of the Annual Fund.

The couple regularly attends university events including President’s Circle dinners, The Trustee Benefit, and the annual Scholarship Luncheon. “These events are our way of staying in close touch with the Dominican Sisters, many of whom remained friends long after I retired in 1999,” Gary says.

“Gary was blessed to have had a long and happy career teaching here,” Jan concludes. “We are delighted to be able to pay it forward for future generations of students. We want to further the objectives of the university—one of which is to provide the opportunity of an excellent education to talented individuals.”