Seattle Children's, the University of Washington School of Law, and the Salvation Army have announced a $187.6 million bequest from the estate of Jack Rupert MacDonald in the form of a charitable trust.

The three organizations will receive annual income from the trust in perpetuity, with Seattle Children's receiving 40 percent of the yearly income — approximately  $3.75 million in the first year — in support of pediatric research at Seattle Children’s Research Institute. The UW School of Law, from which MacDonald graduated in 1940, will receive income from 30 percent of the trust — the largest gift ever received by the law school — in support of the Jack MacDonald Endowed Chair, scholarships, and general educational needs, while income from the remaining 30 percent of the trust, including approximately $2.8 million in the first year, will support programs of the Salvation Army Northwest Division.

MacDonald, who died in September at the age of 98, was a private and frugal man who worked for three decades as an attorney for the Veterans Administration in Seattle and carefully invested his inheritance for the benefit of charitable organizations. His bequest to Seattle Children’s, first announced in 2011 as a commitment from an anonymous donor, was made in honor of his mother, Katherine MacDonald, while the bequest to the Salvation Army Northwest Division was made in honor of his father, Frederick MacDonald.

"We are humbled by Jack's generosity and his confidence in UW Law to carry out his vision for a more just and equitable society," said UW School of Law dean Kellye Testy. "Jack spent his professional life serving the public through his law practice. He believed in the power of the law to make positive change and in the power of lawyers to help solve the world's complex problems. We are inspired by his legacy, and his investment will reach every corner of the law school and every student who studies here for generations."