Pace Estate Giving Donors Show the True Meaning of Philanthropy

Pace University donors who make generous gifts through their estate are among the most dedicated philanthropic leaders in our community. Their giving represents a commitment that extends beyond a lifetime—a deep belief in the mission of the University and in the enduring power of a Pace education to transform lives, uplift communities, and build a better world.

In academic year 2025–2026, the Pace Community set new records for philanthropic giving, raising $24.5 million in support of student advancement, faculty excellence, and programmatic innovation. At the heart of that banner year for Pace philanthropy were donors who made gifts through their estate. In total, estate donors in 2025–2026 contributed $9 million toward the expansion of the Pace mission, powering new pathways of opportunity that will benefit Pace students for generations to come.

A Permanent Legacy of Generosity

One of those generous donors who contributed a portion of their estate to the University in 2025–2026 was the late Pace alumnus Henry Petermann ’60.

Image

A native New Yorker, Henry studied accounting at Pace, attending classes in 41 Park Row before being drafted and deployed to the Korean War in 1957. After the war, Henry returned home to complete his studies, graduating during a 1960 ceremony at the Waldorf Astoria. After receiving his degree, he launched a successful, decades-long career as an accountant.

Scholarship support was critical in Henry’s Pace story. He attended classes at night, on Saturdays, and between shifts, paying his way through school as he pursued his goal of completing his college education. His exemplary academic performance earned him the Homer St. Clair Pace Scholarship Award, which kept that lifelong goal within his reach.

Decades after receiving the Homer St. Clair Pace award, long after his retirement from a distinguished and fruitful career, Henry still remembered the impact of his Pace scholarship. It was a gift that changed his life forever, and he wanted to pay that gift forward.

In 1996, Henry established the Henry G. Petermann Endowed Scholarship Fund at Pace University in support of students at the Lubin School of Business—students who, like Henry, were working hard to reach their potential, and needed only the extension of a helping hand to bridge the gap between aspiration and achievement.

In the decades after its founding, the Petermann Scholarship propelled dozens of Pace students to academic success, professional distinction, and personal fulfillment. And in each year before his passing in the spring of 2026, Henry returned to Pace’s campus for the President’s Scholarship Reception, where he would meet with his scholarship recipients, share his story, impart his wisdom, and continue paying forward that gift that shaped his own Pace experience many years ago.

Image

An Investment in a Better Future

Henry’s impact can be felt every day in the students’ lives he transformed—in their achievements and their triumphs, in the communities they serve and the people they lift up through their own generosity. But perhaps the most remarkable of Henry’s contributions was his final gift to Pace, an estate gift realized only after his passing: a seven-figure reinvestment in the Petermann Scholarship, ensuring that his fund continues to change lives and expand opportunities for generations to come.

Through this final act of generosity, Henry demonstrated the true meaning of philanthropy. His estate gift was an investment in a future he would never see, in the lives of students he would never meet, in a mission he cared about deeply—a mission that touched his life and that continues to play a powerful and transformative role in the lives of others.

“Henry’s commitment to Pace throughout his life was extraordinary, and his generous estate gift extends his legacy as a philanthropist of great vision and dedication,” said Marc Potolsky, senior director of planned giving at Pace. “Henry joins a special list of Pace donors who have elected to include a portion of their estate plan for Pace. Their generosity shows us what it truly means to give back to the causes and organizations that we cherish the most.”

Pace's Philanthropic Standard Bearers

Throughout the course of Pace’s history, scores of estate giving donors have invested in the future of the University. Their gifts are more than financial contributions; they are indelible legacies, symbols of the strength of the University and the bonds that endure from generation to generation.

Estate donors are recognized at Pace by their inclusion in the Edward J. Mortola Legacy Society, one of the University’s most distinguished circles of donors and benefactors. Many options are available to those who are interested in including Pace University in their future plans—wills, trusts, and IRAs are among the most popular forms of estate gifts for Pace donors.

Henry joins a special list of Pace donors who have elected to include a portion of their estate plan for Pace. Their generosity shows us what it truly means to give back to the causes and organizations that we cherish the most.

When Henry Petermann ’60 decided to include a gift to Pace in his estate, he made a meaningful statement of confidence in the future of the Pace mission as a force for good. Today, we are grateful for Henry’s confidence, and for the confidence of all those who are moved by a spirit of philanthropy to include Pace in their future plans. Their generosity affirms Pace’s greatest strength: its community of people working together to build opportunity and create a brighter tomorrow.

Learn more about estate giving at Pace