Giving with Intention

Robb Petersen, ‘68, likes things that are measurable. As a member of Seattle University's Legacy Society, he sees the transformative—and uplifting—power of giving.

“Giving while you’re still alive and vibrant is an opportunity to participate—and it’s fun.”

As a young man, Petersen studied in the Jesuit novitiate and served in the Jesuit Volunteer Corp after graduating from SU. Petersen's career continued to focus on serving his community as an SU adjunct professor in the College of Education and a school psychologist in Seattle Public Schools. After retiring from this role, he continued providing counseling through Catholic Community Services, working with unhoused people, immigrants and veterans returning from war zones.

In 2005, Petersen became a Legacy Society member by making SU a beneficiary on his life insurance and earmarking a portion of his estate for Seattle University.

“If you look around Seattle and look at judges, civic leaders, ethical businesspeople, most of them have a link to SU and what SU is doing both in the city and here in the neighborhood,” Petersen says.

In 2023, Petersen’s husband of 46 years, Mark McNeil, passed away from cancer. A mental health therapist, McNeil mentored a generation of therapists and worked with communities across the Northwest. In his late husband’s honor, Petersen established a scholarship for mental health professionals working toward licensure.

“At that point, all of a sudden, it dawned on me that if Mark could be gone at 70, and here I was, at 77, I needed to think about legacy in terms of what I wanted to do,” Petersen says. “A lot of my legacy giving is intentional and in the Ignatian context, effective rather than affective. So, I got on the phone and called SU.”

Now further into his retirement with confidence in his financial ability to give, Petersen revisited his legacy plans. In conversation with SU’s Director of Gift Planning, Valerie Norwood, Petersen decided to establish the McNeil Petersen Family Scholarship as an endowed scholarship with funds from his IRA and a brokerage account that will support students in the nonprofit leadership program in perpetuity.

Petersen served on many nonprofit boards, especially in the second half of his career. He recognized that nonprofits are “the cornerstone of our communities,” but often the people leading them don’t have the training or resources needed to be successful in delivering the mission.

“I met Valerie and she spent some time with me, and we came up with a plan for the endowed scholarship with specific requirements,” Petersen says. “The giving that I do is intentional, so I wanted it to be focused on a first-generation person, with experience in nonprofits, who wants to develop leadership skills to continue working in that field.”

As Petersen continued his discernment in legacy planning, he decided to name SU as a primary residual beneficiary of his estate to support general scholarships. Thinking about the future of SU, Petersen is excited about the reimagining and expansion of the Core Curriculum.

“The Ignatian tradition ... compassion, community, service and giving ... is so much of the common Core,” Petersen says.

Looking ahead he is excited to continue the conversations with the SU Gift Planning team about funding curriculum development that emphasizes ethical understanding and integration across disciplines.

“One of the things that occurs when you give when you’re living is you can participate and see what’s happening. Not only with SU, but in my broader life—how can I contribute?  How can I stay involved? How can I celebrate ... and find joy in the grace that comes from the tender mercies of seeing things happen.”