Yale and Berkeley divinity students will benefit for decades to come from a $950,000 gift received from the estate of the late William McCall Haynsworth III ’53 BDS, a World War II naval veteran and longtime Episcopal priest and chaplain in New York.
The funds from a charitable remainder trust set up by Haynsworth, totaling just over $952,000, will endow a new William Haynsworth Scholarship Fund to support YDS students.
After serving in the Pacific Theater of World War II from 1943 to 1946, Haynsworth resumed his education, earning his Berkeley degree in 1953 as well as graduate degrees in anthropology and counseling.
Haynsworth served Episcopal parishes in New York and Greenwich, Ct., before going to work as a counselor and chaplain for the Seamen’s Church Institute of New York and New Jersey, where he served for 25 years until his retirement in 1985. (For more on Haynsworth’s work at the institute and his fond regard for the “seafarers” he served, read this career retrospective article he wrote for the institute’s newsletter at the time of his retirement. His article begins on page 30.)
Before his death in 1993, Haynsworth, who was unmarried and childless, set up a trust to support his sister, Mary P. Lynch. The remainder of that trust now comes to YDS following his sister’s recent death.
“There is a reason why Tom Brokaw called Rev. Haynsworth’s generation the greatest generation. They were incredibly committed to serving others,” YDS Dean Greg Sterling said. “This new gift furnishes a prime example of how astute estate planning ensures a legacy and empowers future generations of YDS students to continue the work of serving church and world. He has made it possible to build another generation with the same commitment to the common good.”
The new Haynsworth gift will count towards the Access Yale program to raise $200 million for new scholarships for students across the university before the end of June, 2016.