David Loh ‘93
David Loh Gives Back to UMass Boston Through a Bequest
David Loh’s passion for UMass Boston inspired him to give back.
Barely in his 40s, he has already made a bequest to UMass Boston.
He encourages other young alumni to do the same. “I’m not rich by any stretch of the imagination, and will probably never become ‘wealthy.’ But when I graduated from UMass Boston I promised myself that I would give back because I got so much out of the university,” he says.
Today David is a seasoned lawyer representing dozens of entrepreneurs and hi-tech companies, thanks to the second chance UMass Boston gave him and in no small part to his political science professors. “They really encouraged me to think and challenge myself,” he says. “Professor Winston Langley, particularly, was great at stimulating your thought and was the first to encourage me to attend law school.”
Ultimately David did, and today he’s a partner with the Boston law firm Chu Ring & Hazel LLP and loves going to work every morning. It might be a different story if he hadn’t attended UMass Boston after starting out his collegiate career as an engineering major at an Ivy League school.
“That school and I didn’t fit well. I dropped out and worked for a few years—including driving a cab in Boston, which was actually a lot of fun—before realizing that I better get my life re-started,” he remembers. “All I knew about UMass Boston at the time I entered was that it was very affordable and it happened to be in Boston. My initial plan was to get myself situated and then transfer to another school.
“But once I started attending I found a hidden jewel and stayed. Many of my colleagues were older returning students like me. We talked about life goals and academics in a grounded, realistic way.”
David became involved in student government as a student trustee at a time when UMass Boston faced serious budget cuts and tuition and fee hikes. “It still doesn’t make sense to me that a so-called ‘public’ university gets less than one-third of its support from the state,” he observes. “In my welcoming address at commencement, I said, ‘Let us rebuild this wonderful institution through the strength of diversity. Let us forge a world-class university out of UMass Boston.’”
“I took my own advice in making my bequest. If your experience at UMass Boston was special, like mine was, I hope that you will give back when you can.”
For information about how to include UMass Boston in your estate plan, please contact please contact Carolyn Flynn, director of gift planning for the UMass Foundation, at (877) 775-1992.
