Planned Giving
Dr. Dan Olds
Charitable Gift Annuity
Dr. Dan Olds started serving Wofford in 1963, and more than 50 years later he and his wife, Betty, are still discovering new ways to mentor and improve the college experience for students.
Shay Ellison ’09 was a recipient of the Olds Endowed Scholarship and the first to receive the Dan W. Olds Computer Science Departmental Award, funded through a separate endowed fund at the college established by Betty and their children, Linda and John, in honor of Dan’s retirement.
“Funding for scholarships and academic awards is extremely important to help students focus on studying and learning during school rather than worrying about paying for education,” says Ellison, who majored in history and mathematics as well as computer science at Wofford. He went on to earn an advanced degree from Florida State University and a scholarship and employment from the U.S. government. He now lives in Austin, Texas, where he works with the dealer portal and application programming interface for TRUECar Inc.
When Olds came to Wofford, he had taken only two computer classes during his undergraduate and graduate career, but he knew that the computer age was coming and began researching ways to bring computer technology to the college. In 1967 he proposed a computer time-sharing service. The first computer terminal arrived on campus in 1968, and the college shared a computer with other organizations via long-distance telephone lines until 1975 and the arrival of the Wofford WITCH. Olds helped write the grant that brought the WITCH (Wofford’s Instructional Timesharing Computer from Hoechst) to Wofford. He developed and managed the college’s first computer systems while teaching and administering physics. He then started the college’s Computer Science Department and served as its first chairman before directing Wofford Computer Services.
Even after retirement, Olds continued to find ways to support the Wofford student experience. In 2009 he and Betty established a $100,000 charitable gift annuity, naming Wofford as the beneficiary.
“I inherited money from my mother and father that we really didn’t need to live on,” says Olds. “Having a bit of regular, unassigned income to spend on my genealogical interests, however, was attractive.”
The charitable gift annuity offered Olds life income and tax benefits that made the planned gift more attractive than an outright gift.
“Charitable gift annuities are easy because they’re simple contracts with the college. Donors don’t have to go through an attorney unless that’s their preference,” says Lisa De Freitas ’88, director of gift planning.
According to De Freitas, the charitable gift annuity is a win-win for Olds and Wofford. “Dr. Olds receives the extra income he needs to pursue his interests, and deserving students receive additional scholarship assistance. We are grateful that Dan and Betty Olds continue to put Wofford students first.”
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