Judy Moore: Paying It Forward

When someone fixes your broken heart, you want to give something back—or forward. This is where Judy Moore stands, and because of it, she will help many hearts get the special care they need.

Born in New York, Judy made her way out west in leaps, attending college at the University of Wisconsin, then working at the Chicago Sun Times where she met her husband. When he suggested Texas as the next step, she counter-offered with San Diego, and in the 1980s they moved to the town she has called home ever since.

Employed in the legal profession, Judy found the work and her divorce angst-inducing, so she decided to pursue an interest in the medical field by joining UC San Diego in 1993. She was the executive assistant of a top administrator in the UC San Diego Medical Center, a job she absolutely loved and held until her retirement in 2005. She then became a busy volunteer, "until the Great Fall," she says of her tumble down several steps in her home.

With a number of broken bones, Judy landed back at the UC San Diego Medical Center, this time on the receiving end of care in the trauma department. That experience, coupled with the relationship she would later forge with cardiologist Daniel Blanchard, M.D., as he saw her through serious heart conditions and treatments, led Judy to think about her legacy. With no children, she decided to establish a charitable remainder trust that would sustain excellence in patient care in the future while providing her with an income stream today.

Her philosophy of paying forward was something her parents demonstrated, "so when they both passed away," she says, "and my siblings and I were given a substantial amount of stock, I thought I'd make a gift to UC San Diego. I've always had great faith in everything it stands for.

"When I worked, the medical center was my life, and I've been in and out of Thornton Hospital with cardiovascular issues," she adds, "so that's why I established the charitable remainder unitrust, half of which will support the Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center at UC San Diego." Judy's legacy giving will also support other charities that have enriched her life, because she wants to pay those good feelings forward, too.

To learn more about making a donation of stock to UC San Diego or establishing a charitable remainder unitrust, contact the Office of Gift Planning at (858) 534-2249 or giftplanning@ucsd.edu. We’d be glad to answer any questions.

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