50 years, 50 stories: Story #26 Joan Otis Bequest

JOAN OTIS BEQUEST

One Generous Gift. Multiple Philanthropic Goals.

As a gifted teacher and accomplished artist, Joan Otis touched the lives of thousands of students and fellow artists during a career that spanned 33 years and three local schools. Yet she often shared her concern about leaving a lasting footprint to reflect her time here on earth. In 2008 through a bequest to the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation, Joan left a meaningful legacy that, through seven endowment funds, will continue to support what mattered most to her.

The Joan Otis Fund for the Arts has already awarded $35,000 to benefit a variety of local arts organizations across Washtenaw County from the Ann Arbor Film Festival to Fly Children’s Art Center. And in addition to helping grow an existing endowment for the Ann Arbor Art Center, Joan’s generosity also established five endowments that will provide a permanent source of funding to organizations she supported during her life time: the Detroit Institute of Arts, Ella Sharp Museum of Art & History in Jackson, St. Joseph Mercy Hospital’s Art Fund, Humane Society of Huron Valley, and the Ann Arbor Potters Guild where she was a long-time member and beloved friend.

One of the many ways the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation
supports all that is good in our community.

Read more "good" stories at: aaacf.org/stories
 
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