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Preserving Dr. Upjohn's vision
For 85 years, the legacy and vision of Dr. W.E. Upjohn, who founded the Kalamazoo Community Foundation in 1925, has served as a platform—indeed, a foundation—for a community culture of generosity and caring of which so many Community Foundation donors and friends feel a part.
As the Community Foundation's founder and a community leader, Dr. Upjohn inspired others to invent, cooperate and reach new heights. The Community Foundation's history, as well as that of the greater Kalamazoo community, is highlighted by his philanthropic and philosophical contributions. The changing world of business, one perhaps Dr. Upjohn could never have imagined, has resulted in confusion over funds left in his will.
Those funds, which have grown substantially since Dr. Upjohn's death in 1932, are known as the W.E. Upjohn Prizes Trust, and were to be awarded annually to special employees of The Upjohn Company. In his will, Dr. Upjohn instructed that if The Upjohn Company ceased to exist or ceased to function, the income would be paid to the Community Foundation, which would, in turn, use the funds to invest in the greater Kalamazoo area.
The question at hand is a legal one: Does The Upjohn Company still exist and still function?
In 2003, National City Bank, which has served as the Trustee for the W.E. Upjohn Prizes Trust, asked for a judicial determination of the answer to this question. Judges have differed in their opinions. Initially, the Kalamazoo County Probate Court ruled The Upjohn Company no longer existed or functioned. Pfizer appealed this determination, and the Michigan Court of Appeals recently reversed the Kalamazoo County Probate Court's ruling. The action has now been submitted by the Community Foundation for discretionary review to the Michigan Supreme Court.
The Community Foundation recognizes that the Michigan Supreme Court accepts only a small percentage of appeals for hearing. However, because the stewardship of community funds is at the very heart of its mission, the Community Foundation felt an obligation to Dr. Upjohn and the community to make the appeal.
The Community Foundation's decision to remain involved in the matter stems both from legal and logical points of view. In the end, perhaps, only the legal tenets may apply. But the logic behind the Community Foundation's position provides the underpinning of a community perspective that transcends the issue at hand.
Thanks to the support of thousands of donors and community friends, the Kalamazoo Community Foundation remains a working testament to Dr. Upjohn's vision, touching lives in the very ways he intended, and preserving that vision for generations to come.
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Community Foundation receives $200,000 grant for racial healing from W.K. Kellogg Foundation
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Second Quarter 2010 Investment Performance
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When life gives you apples
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