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Bill and Stephanie Sick are enthusiastic proponents of the power of education. For Bill, that passion started at Rice where he earned B.A. and B.S. degrees in electrical engineering. A talented student, Bill won numerous awards and was an editor for "The Rice Engineer," a popular student-led publication of the time. In addition to his achievements in academics, he was one of the founding members and co-captains of Rice's varsity swim team.
After graduation, Bill met Stephanie, an Oklahoma State alumna and business graduate, while working at Texas Instruments in Dallas. Their careers at Texas Instruments took the Sicks all over the world, including a stint in Japan where their son David was born. "I think I was the only one driving my car in Tokyo with a Dallas Cowboys sticker on the back," laughs Stephanie.
The Sicks have two children, Jill and David. Jill's education necessitated some creative thinking. "The first thing they told us was that she had a learning disability," Stephanie says, "and back then, there wasn't a lot of information about learning disabilities." Committed to providing the best education for Jill and for all students, the Sicks helped found the Fairhill School, a school for students with learning differences.
In all of the years since graduation, the Sicks have been longstanding Rice advocates. Bill has served on both the Association of Rice Alumni Board and the Rice Board of Trustees. Together, they have been philanthropic leaders across campus, supporting Rice Alliance, the School of Engineering, the Jones School of Business, Rice Public Art, OpenStax and so much more.
Most recently, the Sicks gave a gift of real estate with a retained life estate to benefit the Ralph S. O'Connor Building for Engineering and Science, a priority of the Be Bold campaign. With this unique gift, Rice receives ownership of the property while Bill and Stephanie continue to live in it for the rest of their lives. They enjoy an immediate charitable tax deduction, and when Rice receives actual use of the property, the proceeds will benefit the new engineering and science building.
"A university educates you to participate in life in so many ways," Stephanie notes. "We have lifelong friends and memories from Rice, and we hope other students will enjoy it as much as we did."
Gifts of real estate with retained life estate benefit Rice and offer tax benefits such as a charitable tax deduction and capital gains tax treatment. To learn more about this unique giving vehicle, contact us at [email protected] or 713-348-4624.