Pepe Family Fund
Founding Board Member Mary l. Pepe established this donor advised fund to honor her family; father, Anthony M. Pepe; mother, Norma P. Pepe; and brother, William A. Pepe, and their contributions to the Valley community.
Family, heritage and community have always been important to the Pepe family. Like many in the "greatest generation," Anthony and Norma Palazzi Pepe were second generation Italian Americans. Born and raised in Derby, they were children of the Great depression, graduates of Derby High School, a veteran and a young woman of World War II, and parents of baby boomers. As such, they instilled in their children, William and Mary, the value of education, the arts and the importance of doing for others. They did all this by their example.
With this legacy in mind, their daughter Mary established the donor advised Pepe Family Fund with an initial contribution of $10,000. The Fund is in honor of her mother, brother, and father, who have all since passed away. Establishing the Fund was a way for Mary to immortalize her family while at the same time continuing their tradition of community support. As she expresses it:
"This Fund ensures that the support our family has provided for all of our lives—for those things in which we most believe and we most value—will continue long after we're gone. There is no greater gift. And so the Valley Community Foundation has the potential to have a signi?cant and continuing impact in the region," says Mary, adding, "Creating this Foundation is probably the single most important thing we have ever done and we can ever do for our community."
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