Where there’s a will, there’s a way

James (Jim) Jaffe ’66 never intended to go to college. He didn’t even take the SAT. He was 19 and working in his home state of New York when his mother, Rose, passed away from cancer. Rose had been orphaned in high school and never finished her high school education. But she had a passion for learning and reading that she passed along to Jim.

The following year, Jim got a book at the library that listed all the colleges in the United States and sorted through it until he had a list of 10 colleges that interested him. Montana State was one of them. He liked that it was affordable, a good size (not too big and not too small), a good location (he loved fishing) and…it was one of the very few colleges that didn’t require the SAT.

Jim was admitted to MSU in January of 1963 at the age of 21.

“MSU — Montana State College back then — was the school that took a risk on me. College was the best time of my life. I had good teachers, and it was just fun learning all that stuff,” Jim said. When Jim graduated with a bachelor’s degree in commerce, specializing in accounting, he was hired as an Internal Revenue Service agent stationed in northern California.

He then worked as a senior accountant for California Blue Cross Blue Shield before attending law school at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law. He was hired by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to conduct federal environmental enforcement. He also taught at several universities over the years, including helping the University of Findlay in Ohio establish its environmental program.

Jim said that it is important to him to give back to MSU. “Everything I’ve accomplished is because of my education at Montana State. I credit it with all my success. I’m pleased and proud to be a graduate of Bozeman.”

Jim regularly gives to the College of Business where he earned his degree, but when it came to adding a gift to MSU in his will, he chose to honor his mother.

The Rose Pearl Howard Jaffe Nursing Scholarship will support undergraduate nursing students. As an endowed scholarship, it will help students for generations to come, in perpetuity.

“My mom was a volunteer nurse aide. She was incredibly proud of her nursing and loved to work in pediatrics with the kids,” Jim said. “And because I’ve been hospitalized several times, I understand how critical nursing is for the care of patients. When you are in the hospital, the nurses are the ones who are with you.”

He explained what he hopes to accomplish with his legacy gift. “College is very expensive now, and nursing is so critical. I want to enable students to complete their education in nursing without a significant amount of debt.”

To learn more about leaving a gift in your will, contact Kevin Brown at 406-994-4815 or kevin.brown@msuaf.org.

Join the 1893 Society

The 1893 Society honors and recognizes those who have made a planned gift commitment to Montana State University with a gift in their will or other estate planning mechanism, such as annuities, trusts, retirement plans, real estate or life insurance policies. More than 500 alumni and friends have shared their vision for the University’s next generation of successes through planned gifts.