"Our accountant told us it's the best thing we ever did"
The charitable remainder trust that Jane Fausel and Donald Fausel, PhD, have set up to benefit St. Joseph's Foundation makes a lot of financial sense for the couple.
"The money will go to St. Joseph's after we both die," Jane says. "Meanwhile, it is generating income for us, and we received a tax break on the capital gains. Our accountant told us it's the best thing we ever did."
But these benefits pale next to the real purpose of the Fausels' gift—to honor Jane's beloved elder brother John Li, who died in 2005 of prostate cancer.
"This is about my brother John," says Jane. "He is the one who inspired us to make a gift to St. Joseph's."
John immigrated from China to the U.S. in 1999—long after his parents, two brothers and three sisters had found their way here.
By then, John was 63 and in poor health. In America, John earned little and, because he initially was not eligible for insurance, he enrolled in St. Joseph's Mercy Care for a low monthly fee.
Mercy Care turned out to be a godsend. When John suffered a stroke in 2003, Mercy Care doctors found the cause—a ruptured aneurysm—and arranged for surgery. Barrow neurosurgeon Joseph Zabramski, MD, even donated his services.
"The doctor was so wonderful. He saved John's life," says Jane.
John also received care at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center for prostate cancer, which had been diagnosed years earlier in China but left untreated. By the time John began receiving treatment at St. Joseph's, the cancer had spread and a cure was impossible.
"My brother said he owed the hospital and our country so much that he would never be able to pay back," Jane says.
When John died, he left behind a wife and two grown daughters, both of whom had earned master's degrees at ASU.
Soon after John's death, the Fausels learned about charitable remainder trusts. By then Dr. Fausel had retired from his position as associate dean of the School of Social Work at ASU and had begun teaching part-time. Jane was tired of her role as property manager, especially after tenants trashed one of their properties.
So, when Kathy Kramer of St. Joseph's Foundation suggested that the couple consider using one of their investment properties to set up a charitable remainder trust, the Fausels realized they had found the perfect way to honor John and simplify their lives.
Their planned gift is a legacy to John's memory and an acknowledgement of the medical, emotional and spiritual care that the Lli family's "number-one brother" received at St. Joseph's and Barrow Neurological Institute.
