Forward Thinking: A Bequest Gift Helps Preserve the BPL’s Rich Heritage

“It’s not an overstatement to say that libraries are vital and essential to all civilizations,” says Central Library patron Adam Lutynski.

With this sentiment in mind, Adam and his late wife, Joyce Bowden, included the Boston Public Library Fund in their estate plan. Adam recently informed the Fund of their decision and became a member of the 1848 Society. Their future gift will help ensure that the Library shapes the city’s cultural landscape for generations to come.

This progressive mindset characterized the couple’s life together. Adam and Joyce met as members of the Peace Corps in Bolivia in 1966 and later lived in Boston, where Joyce enjoyed work as a fundraiser in higher education and Adam was a lawyer at The Massachusetts Defenders Committee. Work opportunities took them to the Midwest, but they returned to Boston in 2000 and lived in the South End.

Adam and Joyce recognized the collective impact of their gift—noting that alongside countless others, they could have a meaningful impact. Adam says, “We viewed our gift as a single, tiny tile placed in the grout of a mosaic that, with millions of tiles already placed and yet to be placed, will help preserve the BPL’s rich heritage for future generations of patrons.”