John Herda ’68 arrived at the University of Dayton at age 17. His father was working, so Herda got on a bus in Cleveland and set his sights on the future.
But he wasn’t alone for long. Herda found a lifelong brotherhood with Alpha Kappa Psi and met his late wife and love of his life, Kathy (Horst) Herda ’69.
Together, he and Kathy worked hard, grew their family and put their kids through school debt-free.
Now retired after a 50-year accounting career, Herda gives great care to his retirement and estate planning. When the opportunity to give to the University came up, he knew he wanted to contribute through a charitable gift annuity.
“I know how all of those kinds of planned gifts work, and this worked for me,” Herda said. “This is a tax-efficient and income-efficient way for me to do this.”
Herda’s gift is the best of both worlds, providing Herda a stream of income while investing in the University and its students.
It took Herda seconds to pick the vehicle for his gift, and less time to decide what it would support—the Alpha Kappa Psi Memorial Fund.
“The brothers in AKPsi taught me everything I needed to know, about business and everything else,” he said.
By giving to the AKPsi Memorial Fund, Herda helps to ensure students who take internships with companies in high-cost locations can live in the places they’re meant to work.
“The impact of a gift like this reaches far beyond a single semester; it changes the trajectory of a student's career,” said UD School of Business Administration Dean Trevor Collier. “Seeing our students return ready to apply real-world lessons to their studies shows just how much this support matters.”
Herda gets it. He said the jobs he had as a student, including two years with National Cash Register, helped him secure jobs with companies like Ernst & Ernst (now EY).
“I learned a lot of things at Dayton beyond just textbooks and people skills,” he said. “It helped form the values that carried me through life. And I thought this is a good way to promote the continuation of those values.”
Alpha Kappa Psi Class of 1968 provided by University Archives and Special Collections.