Living Large

Dr. Henry Kim chases after thrills every chance he gets. For many years, his favorite pastime was helicopter skiing in Canada. He looked forward to it each year, right up until his 73rd birthday. He stayed at a lodge mid-mountain, and a helicopter dropped him and a guide at the top. Then, he'd ski around the trees and down the slopes.

"There was no trail," says the 81-year-old retired Morristown Medical Center physician. "It was very steep, often with snow up to my knees."

Suffice it to say that nothing slows down this Brookfield Society Legacy Advisory Council member and two-time Healing Hands Award honoree. After retiring from the hospital in 2010, with 37 years of service to Goryeb Children's Hospital and the Basking Ridge community, he took up a second career.

"I was bored so I studied to become an industrial physician and worked in Luverne, Alabama, for three and half years," Dr. Kim says. "I was 72 at the time, and knew I needed to keep active."

Dr. Kim has certainly kept a quick pace when it comes to making Goryeb Children's Hospital the best pediatric hospital in the region. He and his wife, Theresa, also a retired Goryeb pediatric physician, are longtime generous donors to the hospital. Last year, however, Dr. Kim made another bold move. He and his wife used assets from his IRA for a leadership gift toward Goryeb's expansion project.

Dr. Kim made a qualified charitable distribution directly from his IRA to the Foundation for Morristown Medical Center.

"Donors 70½ years and older can make a gift of any amount up to $100,000 per year from their IRA," says Cynthia W. O'Donnell, JD, director of gift planning at the Foundation for Morristown Medical Center. "Because this transfer doesn't generate federal taxable income or a tax deduction, you benefit even if you do not itemize your tax deductions."

And best of all? Dr. Kim had the thrill of seeing his gift be used immediately.