Don Mattes began giving to the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT before he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Since his death in 2020, his wife Glenda has carried on Don’s passion for work. “My wish is that no one ever goes through the horrors of Alzheimer’s again,” says Glenda. The Matteses also supported the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT.
Legacy raises hope. An early key employee of Andover Controls who later ran the company’s European operations, Don visited six continents with Glenda during their 30-year marriage – often skiing or biking. “Don’s life was well lived, just too short,” says Glenda. The couple provided support for the Picower Institute in their estate plan. After Don died, Glenda gifted the estate to MIT, which established both endowment and trust funds there to support research into Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases. Glenda is a cancer survivor, and the gift was also donated by a fund in the couple’s name at the Koch Institute.
Big discoveries at MIT: “Don always said the best thing he got from MIT was that it taught him how to think,” says Glenda. “MIT is an amazing place. Picower Institute Director Li-Huei Tsai and her team are doing more than finding a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. They look for the root cause of the disease. I am also fascinated by Koch’s merging of engineering and biology. The chances that one day they will solve the problem of cancer are very high.”
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For more information, contact Amy Goldman: (617) 253-4082; goldmana@mit.edu. Or visit give.mit.edu/planned-giving.
