Saint Joseph's University, 2007–08 - With Faith and Strength to Dare ...

Charitable Gift Planning for
Saint Joseph’s University
why i give
campaigndonors | Louis J. Cissone Jr. ’56
Student Financial Aid
Lou Cissone ’56 is a former accounting major who also treasures the liberal arts education
he received at Saint Joseph’s College. In fact, he considers it the impetus for the finance career he
enjoyed, so much so that when Saint Joseph’s launched a planned giving initiative to complement
annual fund and major gifts drives, Cissone was among the very first to come on board.
Saint Joseph’s emphasis on ethics, philosophy and theology instilled a business sense deeply rooted
in doing well by doing good.
“As a graduate of Saint Joseph’s, I was motivated by a sense that I wanted to do everything
right,” he says. “When you're young you are determined to avoid joining the ranks of those who take
shortcuts to a successful life. It’s easy when your focus is on self-respect and not the size of your wallet.”
Far from taking shortcuts, Cissone went on to a long, fulfilling career as a CPA and in corporate
finance that saw him spend many years with Sun Oil Company and then buy out one of the
company’s subsidiaries along with several other co-owners. Retired for a dozen years, he recently
completed a term on Saint Joseph’s Board of Trustees.
Cissone’s Saint Joseph’s education was so influential that he wishes to ensure that future students
have the same opportunity to experience it. Through the Louis J. Cissone Scholarship Fund he has
already become a generous benefactor of students. Additionally, Cissone was one of the University’s
first alumni to provide a major bequest in his will and become a founding member of the Ignatian
Circle, which recognizes those who have provided for the University through life income gifts, bequests,
beneficiary designations, or other estate gifts. Charitable gift planning is Cissone’s way of offering
tomorrow’s leaders the same educational experience that so influenced him a half-century ago.
“
“My Jesuit education is among the few most valuable experiences of my life.
I give because I want to be among the many alumni who make it possible for others
to share this great experience.
Louis J. Cissone, Jr. ’56
The Ignatian Circle is comprised of Saint Joseph’s alumni and friends who have provided for the future of the University through life
income gifts, bequests, trust provisions, or by naming SJU as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy or retirement plan.
Current priorities and annual gifts are the foundation of With Faith and Strength to Dare, but planned gifts do count toward the
Campaign goal and make it possible for donors to support the University more generously than they could have done otherwise.
For more information, contact
Dave Crawford, Director of Gift Planning
610.660.1968 or dcrawfor@sju.edu
www.sju.edu/plannedgiving