Point Reyes Light - September 23, 2004
Inverness couple bequeaths $277,500 to MALT
By Jim Kravets
Marin Agricultural Land Trust has received a $277,500 bequest from late Inverness residents Fred and Micky Graeser.
The gift is the largest contribution from a private family in the organization’s history. MALT executive director Bob Berner said the agency has no specific plans for the money at this time. "As a matter of policy," he told The Light, "the bequest will be placed in our endowment fund to help ensure our long-term ability to hold, monitor and steward our conservation easements."
Fred and Micky Graeser published the weekly Montclarion newspaper in Oakland, which they bought in 1944 for $100 and built into a thriving paper. The couple sold the paper in 1977 and retired to Inverness.
Fred Graeser died in 2000 and his wife died late last year.
As West Marin residents, they became early supporters of MALT. The nonprofit’s staff some years ago asked the Graesers for professional advice in producing a brochure about including MALT in wills and estate plans.
Long ago thought of bequest to MALT
MALT staff recall Fred responded that he "didn’t have any serious fault with the copy or the layout" of the brochure and, by the way, he and Micky had been thinking along those lines themselves.
Over the years, the Graesers frequently participated in MALT activities. "They added life and vitality to public events," remembers Berner, "especially our annual fall barbecue for major donors." After Fred’s death, Micky continued to be a cheerleader for MALT, keeping in touch with the organization by mail even after her health deteriorated and she moved to Santa Fe to be near her family.
When Micky passed away last December, MALT was notified of the couple’s bequest. The Graesers did not want their bequest to be publicized during their lifetimes. Their son Laird this summer wrote MALT that: "If public acknowledgment of their gift now can help MALT’s mission, then both Micky and Fred would have said ‘Go for it!’"
Endowment now $2 million
We are enormously grateful," executive director Berner told The Light. "The funds we have on hand are not sufficient to complete all the projects we’re working on." Berner estimated the nonprofit organization’s current endowment at about $2 million.
MALT’s last acquisition, in January 2004, was the purchase for $1.71 million of development rights on Jim and Margaret Moore’s 1,007-acre property at Four Corners.
Berner said he expects MALT to complete negotiations for the purchase of agricultural easements on two additional properties by the end of this year.