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Tim Leland '56

Tim Leland"Nobles calls it 'planned giving.' I call it something else. I call it payback," says Tim Leland '56, a Nobles Distinguished Graduate Award recipient. In 2017, Leland made Nobles a designated IRA beneficiary in his estate plans and notified the development office of his intentions.

Leland credits Nobles as the single most important influence in his life. In his own words, he arrived at Nobles for the sixth form in the fall of 1950 "a bit of a mess." He remembers, "It took less than a week before my mixed-up little brain began to sense that I was in a different world. Over the next six years, Nobles held its arms around me—nurtured and matured me, taught and toughened me."

Upon graduating from Nobles, Leland attended Harvard College and then went on to Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, leading him to a long and distinguished career in the newspaper business. However, he believes that it was his experience at Nobles that made all the rest possible.

"I don't think it's too much to say that I owe it all to Noble and Greenough," he says. "There is something about the school—its integrity, its ethics, its ethos—that sets it apart and makes me want to do whatever I can, financially, to keep it strong and vibrant in the years ahead."

Tim Leland '56, is a former managing editor of The Boston Globe and founder of the paper's celebrated Spotlight Team, which he led to a Pulitzer Prize in 1970. He received the Nobles Distinguished Graduate Award in 2016. A member of his class's 50th Reunion Committee, Tim remains connected with his classmates through his current volunteer role as a class agent. His son, Sasha, is a member of the class of 1988.

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