The Elkes Foundation
The late Terrence A. Elkes, ’58, knew from experience that great teachers can change lives. A professor ignited Elkes’ interest in the law when he persuaded the promising City College of New York undergraduate to take his seminar on Roman law. Years later, Elkes would advise his three sons, “Take the professor, not the course.”
When Elkes sought to create a program that would make a difference at Michigan Law, faculty support was an obvious choice. Since 1998, the Elkes Fund for Faculty Excellence, established by Elkes and his wife, Ruth, has made it possible for many Michigan Law faculty mem-bers to take much-needed time for scholarship.
Through the support of the Elkes Leaves program, as it is known, tenured full professors have completed books, jump-started scholarly research after years of administrative service, published multiple articles, and advanced other projects to burnish their academic reputations—and by extension, that of Michigan Law.
The University and the Law School lost two great friends when Ruth and Terry Elkes passed away within two months of each other, in November 2007 and January 2008. But the couple thoughtfully provided that the Elkes Leaves program will endure in perpetuity, and left an endowment gift of $5 million in their estate for that purpose.
“My father understood that Michigan, both as a public institution and geographically, had dis-advantages relative to some of its competitors in this regard,” says Dan Elkes, a son of Ruth and Terry, speaking on behalf of the Elkes Foundation. “By setting up this program, I believe he hoped to level the playing field and enable Michigan to attract the faculty that it deserves.”
His parents were always altruistic, Dan recalls, giving their time and resources to the causes they believed in and encouraging their sons to do the same. Ruth Elkes, BA ’59, was a dedicated community volunteer. At Michigan, Terry Elkes was trustee of the William W. Cook Trust, a President’s Advisory Group member, and a fundraiser, among other volunteer roles. The couple also established two scholarships at Michigan Law.
After law school, Terry Elkes became a lawyer, then president and CEO of Viacom International, and later president of Apollo Partners, which invests in media and entertainment companies.
But he never forgot that Michigan offered him the scholarship he needed to attend law school. And he never forgot that, when his own father was dying of leukemia in New York, his fellow students at Michigan pooled their resources so he could afford the trip home.
“This generosity, and the very personal nature of the acts, left an indelible impression on my father,” says Dan Elkes. “And of course, Michigan is where he and my mother met, so it was special to them for that reason as well.”
Wishing to honor their parents at an institution that was meaningful to both, Dan and his brothers have made an additional $1 million commitment to the Law School’s building project. Terry Elkes was considering donating to the building project prior to his death, and his sons wanted to honor their father’s wishes—a gesture they felt was all the more important given the uncertainty of the economy and its potential effect on the project.
Dean Evan Caminker says both the endowment of the Elkes Leaves program and the building gift will ensure that the Elkes name continues to live and to make a difference at Michigan Law.
“Terry Elkes was one of the best friends this Law School and this University will ever have,” says Dean Caminker. “The Elkes Fund for Faculty Excellence is a tremendous asset for Michigan Law in our ongoing effort to recruit and retain world-class faculty doing leading-edge scholarship. And we are deeply grateful to the Elkes Foundation for honoring Terry and Ruth with a gift for our new building, where we will be proud to recognize their thoughtfulness and vision.” —RF