William Jewell lived a quiet, unassuming life. He’s about to change thousands of lives for the better.

Jewell, who died in July 2021, just two months shy of his 100th birthday, left a staggering $12.5 million bequest to the Porter County Community Foundation, the largest gift in that nonprofit’s 27-year history.

He instructed the money invested by the community foundation be split three ways — for the Salvation Army of Porter County, United Way of Porter County and the Indiana University School of Business in Bloomington.

Jim Prichard, auxiliary captain of the Salvation Army of Porter County, carries a food pantry box for Briana Barrera. Two of her children, Addison and Aria, are with her. “The Salvation Army always helps me and my family out whenever we need it, all through the hard times,” she said. *Photo Credit: Doug Ross, The Times*

That latter gift was overly generous — more than Jewell and his attorney, Morris Sunkel, realized.

Jewell designated $4 million for Porter County students to receive needs-based scholarships to the IU business school on the university’s main campus. Jewell, a CPA, graduated from there. The scholarships are for tuition and books only.

There aren’t enough IU business students from Porter County to spend all that money each year.

Sharing the wealth

Community Foundation President and CEO Bill Higbie came up with an idea that Jewell would have liked, and it was approved by the Indiana Attorney General’s office and a Porter County magistrate.

Because Jewell’s aim was to boost education for Porter County students, the foundation will use the balance of the bequest earmarked for to establish 529 college savings accounts for every child born in Porter County, beginning in 2022. Last year, Porter County saw 1,581 births.

“If Bill Jewell were standing here, I think he would say, ‘There’s a heck of an idea,’” Sunkel said.

The Salvation Army, which will receive $200,000 a year in perpetuity, is considering an addition to its existing building in South Haven. Space is so cramped there that archery lessons take place in the chapel.

It’s believed to be the largest single gift for that organization, too.

United Way of Northwest Indiana’s $4 million share also will generate $200,000 a year.

The United Way board agreed with President and CEO Adam O’Doherty’s plan to expand the Level Up program that aims to lift people out of financial dire straits. With the $200,000 a year the agency will receive, United Way will be able to double or triple the number of paid navigators used to help clients improve their education, life skills and job skills so they can earn more money and live a sustainable lifestyle.

O’Doherty announced the bequest at the end of a lengthy board retreat to focus on a strategic plan — to be announced in October. It’s clearly a case of saving the best news for last. “They were floored,” Chief Impact Officer Anicia Kosky said.

When Higbie called Auxiliary Capt. Jim Prichard of the Salvation Army’s Porter County unit a few weeks ago to let him know of the bequest, Prichard was astonished. “I think I fell off my chair. I think I cried,” he said.

That $200,000 a year “is damned near what The Salvation Army’s entire fund drive would be,” Sunkel said. But that’s just a drop in the bucket compared to the need, Prichard said. With this gift, the fund drive will remain essential. The Salvation Army isn’t sure yet how the money will be spent, but the plan is to expand services, likely by expanding its facilities.
O’Doherty was similarly astonished when Higbie told him a few weeks ago about the big gift. Like Prichard, O’Doherty didn’t want other donors to believe their gifts were no longer needed. Jewell was simply leading by example, giving in his very generous, outsized way.

“Mr. Jewell’s generosity is making what was once impossible possible,” Higbie said.

Jewell’s life

Jewell was born in Chicago in 1921 but moved to Hammond when he was a few years old and then to Valparaiso in 1962, Higbie said. He was a very organized, very fastidious man.

“He had a very tremendous amount of wealth,” his friend Jim Hutton, a colleague at the former George S. Olive & Co. accounting firm, said, but it wasn’t obvious from his lifestyle.

He enjoyed eating at Round the Clock and the Big Wheel, two defunct Valparaiso restaurants that offered plenty of good food at low prices.

The last 10 years of his life, Jewell didn’t even have a television. His car was 15 years old. He hadn’t bought new clothes in 30 to 40 years, having retired in the 1986 because of a mandatory retirement age.

Jewell prized friendships more than material possessions, Hutton said.

As Hutton went through Jewell’s closet at the apartment where he lived, Hutton found something astonishing.

“Tagged onto the suit was a note that said, ‘Plan to use in the event of my wake,’” Hutton said.

Hutton shared a photo of Jewell as well as a typed — Jewell owned neither a computer nor a cellphone — account of Jewell’s life, in his own words. Jewell had sent it to his funeral director on Nov. 24, 2009, along with some additional notes about five years later.

“Bill was one of the most meticulous people I ever met,” Sunkel said.

Jewell had no siblings. His family was important to him. At Jewell’s direction, the funds established in his will are named for family members, not himself — the Ruth B. Jewell Fund for the United Way, honoring his mother; the William H. Jewell Fund for the Salvation Army, honoring his father; and the Harriett Baxter Scholarship Fund for IU and the college savings accounts, Sunkel said.

“I wish that he were here so he could get the congratulations,” Sunkel said.