Ann Longhurst Vroom, BA’67, has worn many hats at McGill. The graduate has served on McGill’s Board of Governors, numerous faculty advisory boards, and as president of the McGill Alumni Association.
Her latest role is as Lead Ambassador of the 200 for 200 Legacy Challenge, which aims to raise 200 legacy gifts – such as a bequest in a will – for McGill's Bicentennial. The project launched just over a year ago, and over 150 gifts have been confirmed thus far.
“The University has accepted legacy gifts for years, but quietly, in the background,” says Vroom. “This is the first time it’s been actively promoted in this way.”
Vroom was a natural fit for the Ambassador role. Not only is she a loyal McGill volunteer, but she herself has made a legacy gift – a bequest that will support the McGill Library’s Fiat Lux campaign. “I hadn’t really considered legacy giving up until that point, and it was a major lightbulb moment for me,” she says. “It offers a whole new set of options.”
Vroom’s role in the Challenge is to “raise awareness and dispel myths.” She’s presented to countless alumni groups and advisory boards to discuss the benefits of legacy gifts, which are numerous. Donors may quality for tax advantages, their current finances aren’t impacted, there is no minimum donation amount required, and gifts can be designated to the initiative of their choice.
“Once they understand it, people like the idea. It’s been a success so far, and I’m confident that we will reach our goal.”
A history of leadership
Vroom graduated with her Bachelor of Arts in 1967, continuing a family legacy that started with her grandfather, who graduated from the Faculty of Medicine in 1915.
A cheerleader and all-round keener, she made many friends as a member and later president of Kappa Kappa Gamma. The sorority demanded high marks, as well as community service. As part of that requirement, Vroom volunteered as a “Droplet,” which made her a member of a McGill team that played a broomball game against the Montreal Alouettes football team to promote a blood drive on the downtown campus.
“When we entered McGill we were still wearing twinsets and pearls. When we graduated kids were starting to wear jeans. It happened almost overnight. The change was unbelievably radical and fast,” she recalls. “We were the front edge of the baby boomers – on the cusp of protesting everything from the University administration to the war in Vietnam,” she says.
The summer she graduated from McGill she was chief hostess for the Canadian pavilion at Expo 67. “It’s hard to describe the sense of exhilaration and hope and excitement that all of Canada felt, but in particular here in Montreal and Quebec. We hosted the world.” She spent every day she wasn’t working visiting the other pavilions at Expo.
“Countries showed off the best of what they had, from the educational, technological and social point of view, but also their humanity. You really got a sense of who they were as people.”
Today, Vroom appreciates the diversity that McGill’s international students bring to the University. It’s just one reason she continues to be so involved with the University as an alumna.
“I’m thrilled to be a part of this university – all the innovative things that go on through the research, the professors, but also the students. Each generation is as exciting as the last.”
Support McGill’s Third Century. Leave a legacy gift today.