Summerfield Society
The Summerfield Society honors those who leave a legacy for the future of Phi Kappa Psi through a planned gift commitment. Members of the Summerfield Society recognize the need for the Foundation to build long range financial stability by including the organization in their estate plans with such instruments as life insurance, will bequests, annuities and trusts. For many alumni, this is the easiest way to make a significant gift that allows them to impact the lives of generations of Phi Psis to come.
The Society is named in honor of Brother Solon E. Summerfield Kansas 1899 who was often thought of during his undergraduate years as a young man who never bothered his teacher nor did he ever give them cause to bother him in return. He was a reserved man, and certainly surprised his Phi Psi brothers when he later became one of the Fraternity’s greatest benefactors. Like so many alumni, he was fond of his Phi Psi experience and felt the Fraternity was one of the major reasons for his later success in the business world.
That success would come a few short years later during the early 1900s when silk stockings were beginning to emerge as a popular fashion accessory. Brother Summerfield decided this was a product on which he could stake his future. His hard work and entrepreneurial spirit led to the establishment of the Gotham Silk Hosiery Company. Now, even after his death, his legacy profoundly impacts the lives of undergraduate Phi Psis every year.
If you have included the Phi Psi Foundation in your will or estate plan but have not notified our office, please do so and you will be recognized as a member of the exclusive Summerfield Society. Or, if you would like to learn what you can do through your own will or estate plan, contact one of our gift planners.