Your Legacy, Our Future
Lenore Davis Life Through Adventure
Lenore won awards in high school art class for her sculpture. That led to a scholarship to the School of Visual Arts (SVA) in NYC. At SVA she would gravitate toward photography over a career in illustration.
Lenore was always rewarded for her talent. “From what I had to where I am now, I was blessed to be adventurous.” (Even more remarkably, had Lenore not moved to the Coachella Valley in August of 2001, she would have been at the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001, covering that horrific event.)
“I have never had a fear of approaching anyone – from every walk of life, since I was able to speak,” says Lenore, who made a career as a news photographer. She interned at The Village Voice, which lead her to a 13-year staff photographer position at The New York Post, then seven years of freelancing at The New York Times.
Lenore’s professional photography career encompassed hard news and high society, mostly in the New York metropolitan area. She has photographed many US Presidents as well as royalty from around the world, Hollywood and Broadway stars, authors, and business icons.
When she was a photography instructor at Livingston College, Rutgers University in New Jersey, she would tell her students, “You have to look at things in a different way… from another perspective… and then you see things you didn’t see before.” As a student of the arts, she made regular excursions to every museum she could visit, the world over. She was introduced to artists from all over the world, throughout the centuries. She felt their sensibilities and interpretations of life. Lenore didn’t know she was talented – she decided to be talented. She wanted to do art. A pattern of serendipity has been the through line. As Lenore says, “I decided to be lucky!”
As a philanthropist and Eisenhower Health Foundation Planned Giving donor, Lenore understands the meaning of giving back. “The IRA Rollover Gift is not only a Qualified Charitable Distribution but it also satisfies my Required Minimum Distribution,” says Lenore. She achieves two very important goals: giving back to Eisenhower, our local hospital, and fulfilling her IRS requirements.
In so many realms, Lenore has defied the odds. Her perspective for the long-term has returned countless dividends. “My grandmother hid money all over. She forgot about it… until she needed it.” “I always had different monies and investments that I didn’t touch and now I am blessed with a secure life where I can be philanthropic,” she explains.
Lenore, who is a proponent of Eisenhower’s 24/7 membership, shares how well she was treated recently at Eisenhower. She returned from a family reunion in Louisiana with pneumonia and says of her hospital experience, “Finally I was treated humanely and with respect when I found Eisenhower.” Given her childhood health challenges, having the stability of excellent local healthcare offers her peace of mind.
Talk about the far corners: her ancestors are African, French, Creole, and Native American. She is descended from Armand duPlantier, born in 1757, who was the aide-de-camp to the Marquis de Lafayette. duPlantier was Lenore’s third great-grandfather on her father’s side. Lafayette came to America from France to serve under George Washington in the American Revolution. Perhaps she comes by boldness naturally. Brava, Lenore, for living through the lens of adventure.
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