RMIT alumni Thomas Preuss and Philip Francis have left a gift to RMIT in their Wills. Their legacy will benefit RMIT students for many years to come.
In 2013, Thomas was getting ready for bed when he found his partner Phil on the living room floor. He’d had a heart attack.
Luckily, Phil made a full recovery, but it put life into perspective for them.
“We realised we were getting to the age where we would have to decide what to do with our estate when we are gone,” said Phil.
“As a couple with no children, it was something we wanted to consider very carefully.”
Thomas said they were keen to ensure what they left went to good use. “We are not rich by any means, but we have savings and our inner-city house has increased in value. We didn’t want to give our money away frivolously; we wanted it to have a benefit to society.”
The couple met while Thomas was studying at RMIT in the late 1970s and Phil was working in the Physics Department as a young Technical Officer.
Both are from working class families and have first-hand knowledge of how financial difficulties can be a barrier to young people achieving their academic dreams.
Thomas had to leave home at the age of 17 and making ends meet was a struggle while he completed a Bachelor of Applied Science (Applied Physics). Later he was awarded the John Storey Junior Memorial Scholarship to enable him to complete a Master of Applied Science (Applied Physics) which took some of the financial pressure off. Following graduation, Thomas went on to work in physics roles for defence and science organisations.
Phil ended up working in the Physics area at RMIT University for 42 years. He completed an Associate Diploma of Applied Physics in 1980 and a Master of Technology in 2002. His early career was spent working with lasers and optical fibre technology for telecommunications, and he later joined RMIT’s Physics department. He eventually became the manager of Electron Microscopy in RMIT’s STEM College.
Phil said they both agreed that leaving a gift to RMIT was the right thing to do.
“Between us we both have many nieces and nephews but when we thought about how much each would get if we left our estate to them, we realised it wouldn’t be significant to them,” he said.
We knew we could put it to better use. We want to leave the world a better place, an ongoing legacy that in a small way might change the world by giving talented people opportunities they might not have otherwise had.
When the time comes, the gift Thomas and Phil have left to RMIT will be invested to set up an ongoing scholarship to benefit post graduate or honours students who have demonstrated academic excellence and financial disadvantage while studying an undergraduate physics degree at RMIT University.
Any residual funds left over after the scholarships have been administered will go towards a fund for technical staff resources, management, maintenance and training related to equipment that is vital for research and teaching in physics or closely related fields.
The couple are happy that they have made the right decision. “Rather than giving to a charity – which can help someone in the short term – we believe that education and research have a lasting impact on society long into the future,” said Phil.
“Instead of having a monument in a cemetery, our legacy will live on through the research and results that these scholarships produce.”
Leaving a gift in your Will is a simple way to support future generations.
