Leif and Mary Olsen Make a Generous Legacy Gift to the Steinhardt School

Leif Olsen is the proud owner of three degrees, a transformative set of experiences, and a life-income annuity—all from New York University.

Leif took his first NYU course in 1940, when he signed up for an adult vocational education course at Washington Square. At the time, he was a recent high school graduate working in a Hoboken marine electrical shop. Following his military service in World War II, Leif immediately headed back to Washington Square and NYU. Dispatching his early dream of writing the great American novel, Leif took two graduate degrees in psychology at the Steinhardt School and enjoyed a long career in the field of human resources management.

“My NYU professors did more than simply teach me,” says Leif, “they also shaped my life. I remember them all with deep appreciation and fondness.” The chair of his doctoral committee was the legendary Professor Roscoe C. Brown, Jr., who had been one of the famed Tuskegee Airmen before beginning his own NYU career.

Leif and his wife Mary made a generous gift to the Steinhardt School through the NYU charitable gift annuity, which pays them a secure and fixed income for the rest of their lives. As Leif said, “We only wished we could have given even more—because the Steinhardt School deserves it but also because we can use the income and the income-tax deduction too!”

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