A List
6/26/06

SLU TRUSTEE, WIFE PLEDGE $1.5 MILLION TO UNIVERSITY

CANTON - St. Lawrence University Trustee Joseph P. (Joe) Richardson and his wife, Joan Langlois Richardson, of Albany, New York, have pledged $1.5 million to the University's next comprehensive fund-raising campaign.

Joe Richardson, director of business development for Berkshire Bank, is a 1963 graduate of St. Lawrence; Joan Richardson is a 1957 University graduate. Their gift is a combination of outright annual and capital pledges and a major bequest based on a percentage of their estate.

"It's all about the students," Joe Richardson said. "Joan and I wish to invest our money where it will do good for good people and there's no better place to find good people doing good work than St. Lawrence."

Joe Richardson, who earned a graduate degree from the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Rutgers University, has been in the finance and banking industry for over 40 years, specializing in assisting new businesses to identify capital and established businesses to find resources for growth and expansion. He retired in 2005 as senior vice president of Citizens Bank, in Albany. Among his many civic contributions was the chairmanship of the Board of Directors of the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce. Joan Richardson retired in 2000 from a career as supervisor of children's services of the Albany County Department of Social Services. She earned a master's degree in social work from the State University of New York at Albany. They are the grandparents of Class of 2006 graduate Shawn Mayo-Pike.

Also a long-time and active volunteer for St. Lawrence, Joe Richardson has regularly sponsored student interns, represented the University for admissions, organized events in the Albany area and was a member of the Alumni Council for six years, including two as president.

The Richardsons' leadership gift to the Student Center prompted the Alumni Council of 1998-2000 to vote unanimous personal support to that project. While Joe Richardson served as president of the Alumni Council, the couple decided to organize their biggest campaign pledge to date as part of Campaign St. Lawrence, with a pledge totaling $500,000. Additionally, in 2003 the couple established the Richardson Family Scholarship and in 2004, they created the first Donor-Advised Fund at St. Lawrence.

University President Daniel Sullivan stated, "There's no one more devoted, more thoughtful, more energetic about his philanthropy of all kinds than Joe, and Joan is fully supportive in every way. St. Lawrence is deeply grateful for everything they do."

St. Lawrence is in the planning stages of its next comprehensive campaign. Its most recent campaign concluded December 31, 2002, with $132 million raised from alumni, parents of current and former students and friends of the University.

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More information: Giving to St. Lawrence