Unique gift will result in engineering professorship

Last year, alumnus Edward P. Coleman and his wife, Mildred, gave Mississippi State's College of Engineering $425,000 in the form of a charitable remainder unitrust.

By establishing this unitrust, the Colemans receive a substantial income tax break and their daughter became the beneficiary of income from the trust until her death. At that time, Mississippi State receives the funds to establish the Edward P. Coleman Professorship in Mechanical Engineering.

"A unique aspect of the trust that the university helped the Colemans accomplish was setting up the monthly income to actually go to their daughter for the remainder of her life," said Rick Smith, director of development for the College of Engineering. "Many times donors will use the monthly income themselves to supplement their retirement income, but in the Coleman's situation, they wanted to help ensure their daughter's future. At her death, the funds will transfer to the Coleman Professorship."

The Colemans are longtime supporters of Mississippi State. Ed Coleman, who received his master's degree in mechanical engineering from the university in 1935, was the College of Engineering's Alumnus of the Year in 1996. The professor emeritus spent more than 30 years on the UCLA mechanical engineering faculty. While a student at Mississippi State, he was a left-handed pitcher on the baseball team, where he earned the nickname "Lefty."

"While we know it will be some time before the funds are available to the Mechanical Engineering Department, the trust will enable the funds to be invested and to grow substantially," said Glenn Steele, head of Mechanical Engineering. "I wouldn't be surprised to see the Coleman Unitrust grow to well over $1 million by the time it is added to the professorship."

Larry Watson, the university's director of planned giving, said there are other benefits to charitable remainder unitrusts. "With a unitrust, as the value of the assets held in the trust increases, so does the income payable to the beneficiary, and that should help offset the effects of inflation in years to come."

For more information on creating a unitrust like the Coleman's, contact Watson at 662-325-3717 (e-mail: lwatson@develop.msstate.edu).