Meet Our Donors

    We thank all our planned-gift donors for their generous support. Here are some of their stories.

    Donor Colin

    Roberta and Larry Colin Honor Their Caregivers

    Roberta and Larry Colin originally moved to the Bay Area from Utica, New York, in 1954 so Larry could attend Stanford University and earn his Ph.D. in electrical engineering.

    But after three years, due to a commitment to the United States Air Force, the Colins went back to Utica. They longed to return to California, which had proved to these New Yorkers that summer could be more than "a three-week period of lousy skiing."

    After a year, Larry found employment with NASA-Ames Research Center in Mountain View. Employer insurance led them to the then-Palo Alto Medical Clinic on Homer Avenue.

    "We didn't know any doctors here; no one recommended it to us," Larry says. "We just lucked out."

    Nearly 50 years later, the couple still chooses to go to the Palo Alto Medical Foundation for their health care needs.

    "The doctors at PAMF have cared for our entire family," Roberta says. "From Larry's parents to us to our children and our grandchildren — we have all received outstanding care from compassionate doctors who don't treat us like a case number; they never lose sight of the human being."

    Because of this perfect convergence of heart and intellect, their physicians became like family. One example of a PAMF physician going above and beyond sticks out in their memories.

    "I distinctly remember when my 95-year-old father was on a ventilator," Larry recalls. "Dr. Tony Marzoni advised us to take him off, and we did. As we waited for him to breathe his last, Dr. Marzoni sat with us for a couple of hours, holding my wife's hand."

    "His being there made all the difference," Roberta adds with tears in her eyes.

    To honor this and many other exceptional experiences, the Colins established a charitable remainder trust with PAMF identified as the beneficiary.

    More than anything else, Roberta and Larry hope their gift will inspire others in the community to support the world-class health care that is available right here in their neighborhood.

    "We hope other people will partner with us in supporting PAMF," Larry says. "We owe it to our community."