When you love Notre Dame, the years, the memories, and the impact can add up quickly. This is particularly true with Professor Ken Milani. Ken has been teaching accounting at Notre Dame for 50 years. His legacy will no doubt be a long one, but in part because his legacy won’t end when he retires from Notre Dame. His legacy and love will live on forever because he has created an endowed estate gift that will carry on his mission and the mission of Our Lady’s University.
Looking back to Ken’s first year of teaching, he began finding ways to be a force for good for the students at Notre Dame, the community, and the world. This included creating the Tax-Assistance Program (TAP), which has gone on to assist thousands of people with free federal and state income tax preparation services. The TAP model continues to help people throughout the United States via a network of operations managed by Notre Dame graduates.
Ken approaches each year and each class with the same enthusiasm as the one before. Although he admits that it means he gets to tell the same jokes every year, he recognizes that with each person that comes into the classroom there is an opportunity to share his love and passion and inspire them to be a force for good in the world.
It is this stance towards teaching and to life that made making a planned gift an easy decision. Ken has established the Joan and Ken Milani Endowment for Excellence in Community Service Through Business. It is his hope that the Notre Dame students and graduates will always seek opportunities to use their education to find ways to better the community, the country, and the world. His gift will undoubtedly make that happen.
