Charles Keller III Legacy Society member Francis Edward "Ned" Toledano, Jr. '56 remembers the first time he met the love of his life Juliana Woodfin Toledano '56.

"I was in the eighth grade and new to Newman. I was sitting in the back of the class, near the window where I always sat, and Juliana asked my name. We became good friends and always said we would get married one day," Ned said.

Though Ned left New Orleans, he stayed close with Juliana. "We moved a great deal because of my father's job, but Juliana and I never lost touch over the years. We used to send each other Christmas cards." They eventually married in 1963.

Sadly, in 2000, Ned lost Juliana to breast cancer at the age of 63. To recognize the school she cared about, Ned has made Newman a part of his legacy by including a gift in his will in Juliana's name.

In addition to honoring Juliana's memory, Ned has another very personal motivation behind the gift and how it will be used.

"School was always very difficult and frustrating for me," Ned shared. "My parents didn't know it — and it was never diagnosed — by I had dyslexia and ADD." Ned stubbornly persevered through school and, though he had been told "he wasn't college material," he graduated from Clemson University with a degree in English. He owns a successful insurance business along with a qualified plan administration company in Greenville, S.C.

Ned has stipulated that his legacy gift be used to provide tutoring or other assistance to students at Newman who have learning differences. "I want to give something back to honor Juliana and at the same time help students who may be struggling with the same challenged I faced," Ned said.

His generous and heartfelt legacy gift will do both.