Engineering a Legacy

John Beasley, BE’73, has spent the bulk of his life learning how to make things work. From restoring hot rods as an adolescent with neighborhood friends to a career as a product development engineer and director with the Trane Company, he knows how to evaluate a system and determine how it operates.

That’s why, when he and his wife Margie designated a beneficiary for their IRA, Vanderbilt University was a logical choice. “I was the first person in my family to attend college,” he recalls, “and I would not have been able to attend Vanderbilt without the benefit of a financial scholarship funded by other generous benefactors and the support of my parents.”

For many students, philanthropy remains the only way to make a university education work. Through their planned gift to Vanderbilt, the Beasleys are establishing named scholarships in engineering and athletics — paying forward the gift that made such a tremendous difference in their own lives and honoring their lifetime support of Commodore athletics.

The Beasleys are expanding their commitment to Vanderbilt — and not just through scholarships. Their planned gift also designates funds to support children’s health, an important cause for Margie who served young children as an occupational therapist at Ft. Campbell. John also acts as a Sarratt Society chair, encouraging classmates toward their 50x50 initiative — 50 members of the Sarratt Society by their 50th Reunion.

For him, it is easy to promote a program that works so well for so many: “A bequest is a simple way to provide future students the great opportunities we had.”