Gift planning
Family gift benefits "our" community hospital
At a time when everyone is carefully considering their financial future, retired cardiologist Robert M. Cody, M.D., and his wife, Gretchen, found a clever way to contribute to a favorite cause.
With a separate individual retirement account (IRA), dedicated entirely for charity, the couple will make a substantial gift to the new Mills-Peninsula Medical Center campaign without creating a lot of paperwork or seeking legal advice.
Dr. Cody, who practiced in San Mateo for 35 years prior to his retirement in 1997, simply named the Mills-Peninsula Hospital Foundation as the IRA’s beneficiary.
“I was able to do it without modifying my will,” he said. “It’s easy to set up an IRA for charitable purposes.”
Gretchen added that their son, Jim, an estate planning lawyer and treasurer of the Hospital Foundation Board of Directors, first suggested the charitable IRA.
“Jim advised that a legacy gift can be an easy way to make a significant contribution,” she said.
Dr. Cody, a recipient of the Mills-Peninsula Hospital Foundation’s highest honor, the deGuigné Award, is also supporting the campaign by serving on the committee charged with raising $75 million to equip the new hospital, due to open this fall.
The former Mills-Peninsula chief of medical staff has been a leading member of the San Francisco Peninsula’s medical community since 1962.
“I never practiced anywhere else,” he said.
Dr. Cody’s father died when he was 2 years old, and he recalls as a young pre-medical student wanting to be like their family doctor, who sometimes took young Bob on patient visits.
“He was my mentor and hero,” he said.
He grew up in San Jose and attended medical school at Stanford University. He met Gretchen, his best friend’s little sister, when he was in eighth grade and she was in fourth.
They recently celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary with their six children and 13 grandchildren.
Both have been involved in numerous community benefit activities, including the American Heart Association, Shelter Network, St. Vincent de Paul’s Catherine’s Center, Mission Hospice, Stanford Medical School and a variety of others – giving countless hours of their time as well as 10 to 15 percent of their annual income.
He noted that Mills-Peninsula is also the Cody family’s hospital.
“It’s where our entire family has received their hospital care,” Dr. Cody said.
“I tell prospective donors, this is your hospital. One day you’ll need the hospital, and you’ll be grateful for the excellent care, state-of-the-art facilities and amenities. You will be proud that you helped support the most up-to-date, well-planned hospital on the Peninsula.”
For questions and information regarding trusts, bequests and other planned gifts, contact Leonard Graff, director of gift planning at 650.696.5990 or GraffL@sutterhealth.org.
