Dr. Robert and Virginia Shaffer and Frank Stein and Paul May

Visionary legacy gifts from Dr. Robert and Virginia Shaffer (left) and Frank Stein and Paul S. May (right) will support innovative glaucoma research and education programs.

How do you define the word "visionary"? Glaucoma Research Foundation's groundbreaking The Cure is in Sight Campaign provides an inspiring example: When all results were tallied in July, approximately a quarter of campaign funding (which totaled more than $25 million) came from friends whose planned gifts will support the quest for a cure beyond their lifetimes.

"Planned gifts have always been vital to our mission," says Thomas M. Brunner, Glaucoma Research Foundation president and CEO. "In fact, two significant bequests helped establish Glaucoma Research Foundation in 1978," Brunner adds.

In all, close to 100 planned gifts brought over $6.3 million to the campaign to support the Catalyst for a Cure Vision Restoration Initiative, Shaffer Grants for Innovative Glaucoma Research, and programs to inform, connect and empower glaucoma patients and their families.

Three gifts, from friends who have been part of Glaucoma Research Foundation's quest for a cure from the beginning, illustrate the profound difference a legacy can make. Partners in life, business and philanthropy, Paul S. May and Frank Stein understood the devastating toll glaucoma can take. Both developed the disease later in life, and glaucoma left Paul's mother legally blind.

Believing that research would ultimately yield a cure, they began investing more than 40 years ago. In 2008, they established the Frank Stein and Paul S. May Grants for Innovative Glaucoma Research, providing annual investigator grants to select scientists. When Paul passed away in 2013 and Frank in 2019, they contributed more than $2 million to the campaign for a cure through their planned gifts.

Another pioneer, Virginia Shaffer was the wife of Glaucoma Research Foundation co-founder Robert Shaffer, MD. Following her husband's passing in 2007, Mrs. Shaffer continued to support glaucoma research and education programs annually. Upon her death in 2016 at the age of 103, the couple's trust included a generous gift for the campaign.

Mr. Brunner remarked, "Bob and Virginia Shaffer were lead donors to our very first campaign, and their legacy gift made them lead donors once again to the largest fundraising endeavor in our history. The Shaffers were such an integral part of our history, and with their thoughtful and visionary support, they are part of our future as well."

You can become an integral part of Glaucoma Research Foundation's future—and help fund research to find a cure—with a gift in your will or other estate plan. To learn how, please contact Nancy Graydon at ngraydon@glaucoma.org or 415-986-3162 ext. 231.