When Richard Nolan ('73) and his partner, Robert Pingpank, sat down to write their wills, they made a list of all the schools and organizations that they had been affiliated with over the years where they found nurturing and support. At the top of their list was the School of Education. Nolan, who earned a Ph.D. in Religious Education, has fond memories of his course of study. “It was one of the many great programs in the School,” he says.

For Richard Nolan and Robert Pingpank, a bequest to the School of Education is a way of acknowledging New York University’s “hospitality to gay and lesbian people” and “policies of inclusivitiy.”

They came of age at a time when disclosure of one’s homosexuality was akin to professional suicide. To conceal their relationship, the couple’s first home, built in 1967, was designed to give the illusion in their quiet residential Connecticut neighborhood that the clergyman and the high school mathematics teacher were simply neighbors. The outside world saw two separate mailboxes and street addresses. Inside, Richard and Robert opened doors, merging the two apartments into one home.

Now 33 years later, Richard, a retired Episcopal minister and college professor of philosophy, and Robert live in West Palm Beach, Florida. Richard works as a substitute priest at local Episcopal churches and is an adjunct professor at Palm Beach Community College. Robert lives the fully retired life, spending time with the couple’s two dogs and socializing with neighbors. They hang a rainbow flag, a symbol of gay pride, from their garage.

“Many gay and lesbian couples, and individuals, have accumulated estates that need good uses after they die,” Richard says. “institutions to which they have been attached as members, students and staff are especially appropriate beneficiaries.” For many lesbians and gay men charitable gift planning is critical. (See box on this page.)

This year Nolan and Pingpank will celebrate 45 years together. For a couple who became soul mates in an era when homosexuality was hidden, there were few visible long-term relationships on which to model their own. But the secret to their longevity as a couple may have little to do with the gender of the beloved. “Bob and I just love hanging out together,” Nolan says. “I think that the basic fact that we are really good friends has been our firm foundation. ”