Pat and Carol West

Pat and Carol West

Pat and Carol West

Pat and Carol West are Gonzaga aficionados. In addition to being the parents of two Gonzaga alumni, Pat is a member of the Investment Committee of the Board of Trustees.

Tragedy befell the Wests in the summer of ‘75, when their 10 year-old son Christopher was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease. After a brave fight, he passed away one year later. Healing from that heartbreak, the Wests assisted in building Spokane’s first Ronald McDonald House as well as establishing a scholarship fund at Gonzaga—the Christopher M. West Memorial Fund—which helps hundreds of students in the Pacific Northwest who are involved in humanitarian efforts and demonstrate leadership potential.

“Pat and I just figured that we would take what it would have cost us to send Christopher to a university and create a scholarship so that there’d be money for other students to attend Gonzaga,” said Carol.

In 2012, Pat and Carol gifted their highly appreciated stock to set up a charitable remainder unitrust (CRUT) with Gonzaga. For their combined lifetimes, the Wests will receive income quarterly, and upon their passing, what remains in the CRUT will be added to the Christopher M. West Memorial Fund which will provide more scholarships.

“I don’t have to pay any capital gains, I can donate the stock to Gonzaga, we can build up the scholarship fund that we have in our son’s name, we can get a tax deduction and increase our income—all this benefiting Gonzaga when both of us are gone,” Pat West said describing the benefits of their CRUT. “It just makes a lot of sense. It’s a win-win all the way around.”