John Kim hasn’t forgotten the generosity that helped bring him to the United States from South Korea decades ago. And he’s returning it in a big way.
Kim, president of New York Life Insurance Co., along with his wife Diane, have donated $1 million to help students from Hartford attend UConn School of Business, where he received his master’s degree in business administration nearly 30 years ago.
“If it wasn’t for a family who sponsored us, my family could not have come to the United States,” Kim said. “We never forgot about that. This is our way of paying it forward.”
It was in Hartford that Kim started his career, landing a job at Aetna in 1983.
In 17 years with the company, Kim said: “I had good leaders and mentors that taught me the importance of giving back to the community.”
When Kim was starting a family with his wife, he would drive into the city down Albany and Homestead avenues. He said he still remembers trips through struggling neighborhoods in the city.
“The perfect connection was giving back to UConn and the city of Hartford in such a way my success could be repeated by the most disadvantaged kids who go to inner-city schools in Hartford,” Kim said.
Kim credits Hartford as playing a role in that success and he said it was always his intention to give back to the city.
Joshua R. Newton, the UConn Foundation’s president and CEO, said this has been evident in the conversations he’s had with Kim.
“The more and more we talked, he said it really was about how Hartford changed their lives and what could he do to give back,” Newton said.
Kim asked about the number of underrepresented students coming from Hartford this fall, and Newton recalled telling him there were a few.
“It wasn’t that they hadn’t applied. It wasn’t that they hadn’t been accepted,” Newton said. “It was that the finances hadn’t worked.”
Students whose families cannot contribute any money to college face an average of $8,500 to $9,000 in loans per year, Newton said.
The initial hope is to provide scholarships to up to five students to offset the costs they face, and potentially add more students in the future, Newton said.
The Kims wanted the funds to go to students who have overcome socioeconomic and educational disadvantages or are part of an underrepresented group at the school.
Business school Dean John Elliott says the gift “makes it possible for some people to do what they could not do without that help.”
And guidance counselors and others advising Hartford students can soon point to this scholarship, Elliott added.
“The information will be out there and the students will be getting the right advice to see that this is really an opportunity,” he said.
Kim said he and his wife hope to help the recipients in other ways if they can.
“We will do our best to make sure they are fully successful in their careers,” he said.
UConn’s connection to the Capital City continues to grow as it works to move its suburban West Hartford campus to a site behind city hall.
“This is an incredible opportunity for students in Hartford who have worked hard and have the potential to become leaders in the business world,” Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin said in a statement. “The gift from the Kims sends a powerful message to Hartford students that people believe in them and are committed to their success.”
The foundation said this gift was the latest in their Transform Lives scholarship initiative, which has a goal of $150 million.
“To get a million-dollar gift from an individual for a program like this is very significant,” Newton said.
