Mark Pastin (A&S ’70) admits that the memory of his years at Pitt is a bit foggy and selective of the good times. Interestingly, several of them involve campus police and the Cathedral of Learning lawn.
“My friends and I used to play a thing we called moon glow frisbee with a luminous disk,” Pastin recalled. “We kept getting chased out by campus police. What I really remember is the comradery of it.”
As an undergrad, Pastin received support from the Anna Randolph Darlington Gillespie and David Lindsay Gillespie Fund. Without it, he might not have been able to afford to go to school. That fund has supported hundreds of students in the 50 years since its inception and it still benefits students today.
After graduating from Pitt with a degree in philosophy, Pastin went on to Harvard where he earned his PhD in just three years, compared to a more common timeframe of four or more years. He imposed that arduous schedule on himself in part because he only had three years’ worth of fellowships and grants.
Now, nearly 50 years later, Pastin wants to take away some of the same type of anxiety faced by today’s graduate students.
“I looked at where I could make a critical difference and I recognized how much thanks I owed to the University of Pittsburgh, so supporting PhD candidates at Pitt was the answer to where I could make the biggest impact.” – Mark Pastin
As part of The Big DIG, Pastin updated his estate plan to include a gift to create the Mark J. Pastin Endowed Fellowship, which will provide support for graduate students enrolled in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences pursuing a PhD in the humanities.
Pastin says he could retire from the Council of Ethical Organizations which he founded in 1980 and has run ever since, but he loves the work too much to step aside and he feels as though he is making a difference both today and for the future. Similarly, he knows his gift to Pitt will make a difference for researchers and professors for generations to come.