CID RECEIVES More than $750,000 BEQUEST FROM SCHOOL ALUMNUS, EDWIN SLYE

ST. LOUIS, Missouri, September 2006 – Central Institute for the Deaf (CID) has received a bequest totaling more than $750,000 from the estate of Mr. Edwin B. Slye.            

Since 1914 CID has been teaching deaf and hard-of-hearing students how to listen and talk. Mr. Edwin B. Slye was once one of those children and a member of the class of 1942. 

“Ed credited CID with helping him get started on the right path,” said his friend and attorney, David D. Uchner. “He was a regular guy, a good Christian man who was just like you and me, except that he was deaf.

For 39 years, Mr. Slye worked as a plant laborer at Dairy Gold Foods in Cheyenne, Wyoming. It was hard work and he earned a modest living; nonetheless, he made sure to remember organizations like the First Presbyterian Church and CID in his estate plans. By doing so, he left CID with a substantial and unexpected gift, a legacy that will endure at the school. 

“Mr. Slye’s forethought and generosity allowed him to arrange for a life insurance policy that has paid CID more than $750,000, a sum that has had an amazing impact on our school,” said CID executive director Robin Feder, MS, CFRE. “We used part of this wonderful gift to fund our first technology upgrade in five years. This put new computers in our classrooms and offices and new laptops in our computer lab, improving our teaching capabilities. We are also adding a portion of Mr. Slye’s gift to our endowment, which will help ensure the future stability of our organization.”

Visitors to the CID school can tour the computer lab where a plaque commemorates Mr. Slye’s legacy at CID. “We greatly appreciate Mr. Slye’s generosity and encourage others to remember the organizations they care about in their wills or estate plans," said Robin Feder.

Mr. Slye died in February 2006 at the age of 80. Ten years earlier, he had made arrangements for CID to be the beneficiary of his life insurance.  He was a member of First Presbyterian Church, the Cheyenne Elks, the Cheyenne Deaf Association and the Wyoming Deaf Association. He is survived by his brother, John and numerous friends. 

Founded in 1914, Central Institute for the Deaf (CID) is located at the southern tip of the Washington University Medical Center complex within the city of St. Louis, Missouri. CID is where deaf and hearing-impaired children from birth to age 12 learn to listen, talk and achieve literacy without the use of sign language. Many CID alumni have attended universities and pursued professional careers. CID students have come from 48 states and 27 countries.

The work of the CID school is augmented by speech and language therapy, pediatric audiology, mainstream assistance, continuing education for teachers and professional consultation for schools. CID educational tools have been used to help deaf children in all 50 states, all provinces of Canada, six provinces of Australia, and 33 countries. CID teachers and pediatric audiologists have faculty appointments and collaborate with clinicians and researchers in childhood deafness in programs composing CID at Washington University School of Medicine. These programs are affiliated with, but financially separate from Central Institue for the Deaf (CID).

-  30 -

Editor’s Notes:

CID and CID at Washington University School of Medicine are located at 4560 Clayton Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri 63110.