I give to MFS because...

    Neil Lichtman '64 - Naperville, IL

Chicago-area resident Neil Lichtman came to MFS as a seventh grader. After a strong secondary school career, he went on to the University of Pennsylvania where he earned a B.A. in history, then the University of Virginia, where he received a master’s degree in Foreign Affairs, and finally Harvard, which granted him an M.B.A. He has spent his career in the field of advertising and marketing, most recently as a managing director and chief strategy officer at the Maddock Douglas agency. A loyal leadership donor, he attended the Class of ’64’s 40th reunion in 2004.

“There are a few reasons I donate to MFS. First, I credit it, more than any other school I've attended, with the discipline that got me through the schools that followed MFS successfully and served me day in and day out in my career.

Second, when I think about one school that is trying to do high school education well in a culture that takes education less and less seriously, I think about MFS.

So far, that's probably what one expects to see written in places like this. True, yet a bit trite. The next two reasons might be more interesting.

The third reason is convoluted, yet in my gut may be the most important reason. I support three religions. I'm a Unitarian, take this small religion very seriously, and support it heartily. Second, belonging to the Jewish people, the one branch of Judaism I want to see flourish is the Society for Humanistic Judaism and I support them. Third, recognizing my misgivings about the right wings of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism, when it comes to nourishing the kind of Christianity I can support, Quakerism makes abundant sense to me, and I can do that through MFS.

Fourth, in many ways, MFS did a fine job putting up with my teenage immaturity. I thank them for that. They didn't have to.”

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