Robert Chapin ’57 Planned Giving Profile

In the fall of 1953, Robert Chapin ’57 arrived in Wallingford excited about the prospect of spending his next four years at Choate. Though a South Florida native, Bob spent his early school years at the Fessenden School in Newton, Massachusetts, so he arrived well-prepared for an all-boys education and chilly Connecticut winters.

Bob quickly embraced all that Choate had to offer on the academic, athletic, and extracurricular fronts. He played soccer, ice hockey, and tennis all four years; took part in Student Council; sat on the Honor Committee; and engaged in coursework that opened his mind. His best recollections of Choate fall where these experiences intersect: in the comradery, integrity, and character development that grows out of engaged classrooms, team sports, and strong community. The School’s Honor System combined with regular Chapel attendance and upstanding leadership instilled in Bob, like many of his classmates, a strong moral compass that would shape his adult life.

It was the academic foundation and character development grounded in his years at Choate that helped ensure his success as an undergraduate at Brown University and later as a law student at the University of Virginia. After six years of practicing litigation in Cleveland, Ohio, Bob decided to return “home” to South Florida. In Delray, Bob set up his own firm, specializing in estate- and tax-planning work. Fifty-four years later, in 2018, after having grown the office to eight lawyers and many more staff, Bob retired.

In his retirement, Bob began to think about his own estate planning. Planned giving is his opportunity to give back to the institutions that have impacted his life. Bob learned the importance of generosity early on: “Choate was significant in teaching us to give back to our community—in time, in talent, in treasure.” Because of Choate’s great influence on his life—his values and his academic pursuits—the School will be a recipient of his generosity: “Early schooling impacts you more than any other education. It is the character development that sets the foundation.”

As Bob contemplates his gift to future generations of Choate Rosemary Hall students, he likes to think that they, too, will understand this great privilege, this opportunity to be educated of mind and character. “I’d like to see students living an engaged life, committed to his or her field of endeavor and with a passion for and commitment to excellence.”

Bob’s planned gift will, indeed, play a part in their futures.