Doctor’s Orders: A Healthy Dose of Giving

Pediatrician Anthony Zangara, MD, is so enthusiastic about being a member of the Brookfield Legacy Society that he shares its pamphlets with his Morristown Medical Center colleagues. It's only fitting since he learned about gift annuities and other planned gifts from a fellow physician.

"I talk it up with the other doctors; I carry around about four or five brochures at a time to give to various doctors," he says. "The benefits are so good, not only for the hospital but also for the person donating." Through the Foundation, Dr. Zangara created a charitable gift annuity (CGA), which helped him meet his philanthropic and financial goals. Through this CGA, he receives fixed payments for life, an initial charitable tax deduction and the satisfaction of contributing to the place where he forged a successful career.

Dr. Zangara grew up nearby, in Boonton, and attended Brown University, Tufts University School of Medicine and the Harvard School of Public Health.

During medical school, he worked in the morgue at Morristown. It wasn't until 15 years later that the young pediatrician returned as director of medical education. His wife, the late Joan Kelsch Zangara, was hired as a cardiologist.

He stopped practicing in the early '90s to care for Joan, who had developed Alzheimer's disease. Throughout everything, Dr. Zangara remained a teacher. Currently, he instructs medical students on physical diagnosis at the hospital.

"I'm always talking up the hospital," says the grandfather of 14. "Morristown Medical Center gets such good results. People ask me if I get sick, where I'm going. I tell them I don't plan on going anywhere else."