Philanthropy Central

Lucille P. Markey, grande dame of Kentucky’s famed Calumet Farm, producer of eight Derby winners, knew a thing or two about running hard and finishing strong. Favoring impact over longevity, Mrs. Markey directed her lawyer, Louis Hector, to devise a charitable trust into which the bulk of her substantial estate would pour and then be paid out in short order. In keeping with the terms of her will, which she signed in 1975, the Lucille P. Markey Charitable Trust operated for only 15 years, beginning in 1983 and ending in 1997. During its decade and a half of operation, the Markey Trust distributed over $500 million in support of biomedical research.

This case study is one of five presented in Time Is of the Essence: Foundations and the Policies of Limited Life and Endowment Spend-Down: the Julius Rosenwald Fund, 1917 to 1948; the General Education Board, 1903 to 1961; the Lucille P. Markey Charitable Trust; the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust; and the Corella and Bertram F. Bonner Foundation.